Drel

Language: unknown
Language: unknown
Subjects

Fans (drel, rel) provide an especially impressive example of how elaborate a craft braiding actually is on the Marshall Islands. Making fans involves a protracted process of preparing plant fibres and stripping leaves, dyeing and, ultimately, the braiding itself. This work was performed by women. Around the home, fans were used to kindle fires, ward off flies and mosquitoes, or to alleviate the distress of a fever.

Data Provider
Städtische Museen Freiburg
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Cataloguing data

Object type
Fächer
Dimensions
Breite: 250.0 mm, Länge: 400.0 mm
Material/Technique
Braiding
Current location
Museum Natur und Mensch
Inventory number
II/1257

Provenance and sources

when
before 1900

when
24.04.1900
who
Brandeis, Eugen - Former Possessors

where
Marshall Islands (location/origin)
Micronesia (location/origin)
who
Brandeis, Antonie - Collectors

Provenance
Donated by Eugen Brandeis (Imperial Governor of the Marshall Islands) April 1900, collected by Antonie Brandeis (Jaluit) /Donated by Eugen Brandeis (Imperial Governor of the Marshall Islands) April 1900, collected by Antonie Brandeis (Jaluit) Object no. 19 (Object list Antonie Brandeis, 1st consignment April 1900, SAF D.Sm 35/1): "Doppel-Fächer. Rèal edj in ir. Pandanusbl. u. Bast as with the mats". Additional comment: "The fans No. 19 and 20 are worked in a similar way to the mats. [...] The fans serve as a defence against flies and mosquitoes. If someone is ill, they are fanned by relatives alternately day and night." The fan with the new inventory number II/1257 is not a double fan. It is possible that Antonie Brandeis' entry refers to the double fan II/1316. It is also possible that the very similar fan II/1259 is a double fan that was separated, as both objects were labelled as "double fans" by the collector.

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