Single membrane goblet drum. The small drum is mounted on an elaborately carved stand. It is not certain whether the decoration of these drums had any ritual significance. [HLR; JC 17 4 2013]

Collection type: Object
Description: Single membrane goblet drum. The small drum is mounted on an elaborately carved stand. It is not certain whether the decoration of these drums had any ritual significance. [HLR; JC 17 4 2013]
Geographical reference: Congo, Republic of
Africa > Central Africa > Congo, Republic of
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector Unknown Collector; PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Date / Period: Date made: Possibly before 1874
Date collected: By 1874
Acquisition information: Donated: 1884
Materials and processes: Material Wood Plant, Material Animal Skin, Material Pigment, Process Carved, Process Pegged, Process Painted
Dimensions: Depth: max 135 mm, Width: max 150 mm, Length: max 610 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1884.109.14 PR Cat other PR nos: 3023
Research and responses: In an email to Madeleine Ding dated 6 March 20134, Dr Martha Ehrlich from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville suggested that 'the painted drum with two figures supporting it (1884.109.14) is...not Akan or Asante work from Ghana'. [MJD 12/03/2013; JC 18 4 2013]
I have yet to find a close match elsewhere, but on general stylistic grounds I would suggest that this was made in the Kingdom of Loango in the mid nineteenth century. [JC 18 4 2013]
Associated publications: Illustrated in colour in 'Object Lesson: Decorated Ashanti Drum', by Neil Fisher, in The Times, 21 July 2004. [JC 11 12 2019]