This beautifully (AI colourised) ceramic plate shows John Dunn and Catherine Pierce at the centre, with two of their descendants — Wandile and Kathy Nunn — completing the circle.
Thanks to Cedric Nunn for sharing the background to this story.
The piece was created by Ardmore Ceramics for the Dutch Tropen Museum’s “Group Portrait South Africa” project, which profiled nine South African families across five generations.
For the Nunn family, those five generations were:
John Dunn → Amy Louw (née Nicholson) → Lily Nunn née Louw → Cedric Nunn → his daughter Kathleen.
Cedric also shared that the original ceramic featured here is in his daughter’s possession — a little piece of family history held exactly where it belongs.
A reminder that behind every name on the Dunn–Nunn family tree are real stories of identity, resilience and belonging — and a legacy that continues to unfold.
John Dunn & Dabulamanzi kaMpande
Another Ardmore Treasure —
A huge thank you to Cedric Nunn for sharing yet another gem from the Ardmore/Tropen Museum collaboration.
This ceramic piece — “John Dunn and Dabulamanzi kaMpande” by artist Petros Gumbi (2002) — was created as part of the same Group Portrait South Africa project.
According to Cedric, this one was kept by the Tropen Museum.
It depicts Dunn in conversation with Dabulamanzi, the royal commander whose impi attacked Rorke’s Drift the day after Isandlwana.
The piece is full of life and symbolism — a reminder of the complex, intertwined histories between the Dunns and the Zulu royal houses.