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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Nineteenth-Century Carved Wooden Doors of the East African Coast
Author:Aldrick, JudithISNI
Year:1990
Periodical:Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa
Volume:25
Pages:1-18
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs., ills.
Geographic terms:Kenya
East Africa
Zanzibar
Subjects:dwellings
carving
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
History and Exploration
Architecture and the Arts
Art, Architecture, Music, Drama
architecture
Fine arts
Wood-carving
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709009511404
Abstract:The three main centres where door carving is still practised and where old doors can still be seen in large numbers on the coast of East Africa are Zanzibar, Lamu, and Mombasa (Kenya). Inventories of carved doors in these three locations have been made between 1985 and 1987. The vast majority of these doors date to the second half of the nineteenth century. Their owners, generally traders and shipowners, were almost without exception Muslims. The diversity of the doors demonstrates how a variety of tastes, traditions and peoples coexisted in the East African coastal towns. There are several distinct styles and the doors do not fall into a homogeneous grouping that can be covered by the broad construction 'Swahili'. At least eight different styles of carved door can be identified, each showing clear variations in construction method and in details of design and ornament. The author calls each type after the areas where they are most commonly found or after the people with which they are most associated. She discerns Lamu doors, Siyu doors, Bajuni doors, Omani doors, unframed doors, and three door designs of Indian origin: Gujerati doors, Zanzibar-style doors and Indian neoclassical doors. App., notes, ref.
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