Mangbetu Drum, Uele Region, Democratic Republic of the Congo

nedungo
length 35 1/2in (90.2cm)
'4554' written twice in white marker

Provenance
Musée Instrumental du Conservatoire Royal, Brussels
Galerie Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels
Galerie Philippe Ratton, Paris
Morris Pinto Collection, New York and Geneva
Entwistle Gallery, London and Paris
American Private Collection

According to Enid Schildkrout, "A magnificent drum (nedungo) carved out of a single piece of wood, would have been part of the court orchestra of a Mangbetu chief . . . It was played as a part of a musical ensemble consisting of several different types of drums, horns, gongs, and rattles. Tulip-shaped slit drums were made in many sizes [. . .]

[. . .] In the past, a Mangbetu chief would give a slit drum to all his sub chiefs. These drums were used to announce the arrival of a king or sub chief when he traveled. The drum was beaten with a resin-tipped mallet to announce a chief's presence, to alert the audience that the chief was about to speak or take a drink of palm wine. The drum was prized according to its tonal quality and the range of its sound, as well as for its magnificent fluid lines and precise symmetry." (Bassani, Ezio, Michael Bockemühl and Patrick McNaughton, The Power of Form - African Art from the Horstmann Collection, Skira, 2002, p. 198)

Masterfully carved in an elegant, carefully constructed, inverted bell-shaped form with walls of varying degrees of thickness and a refined glass-like wood surface, the drum not only functions as an instrument, but as a resplendent work of art.