Ceremonial Drum with Power Animal (Hippopotamus?) Supporting Figurative Superstructure
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This visually arresting creation based on the form of a distinctive royal drum from the kingdom of Loango was likely made for sale to a European client and never used. The focal point of the composition is a disembodied human face framed by a serpent. This surreal image hovers above a zoomorphic form at the base that may be a hippopotamus covered with spots that refer to spiritual might.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ceremonial Drum with Power Animal (Hippopotamus?) Supporting Figurative Superstructure
- Date: 19th–early 20th century, inventoried 1912
- Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Loango Coast; Republic of the Congo; Angola, Cabinda
- Culture: Kongo peoples
- Medium: Wood (Rinicodendron heudelotii Baill.), pigment, hide, mirror
- Dimensions: H. 37 3/4 in. (96 cm), W. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm)
- Classification: Wood-Musical Instruments
- Credit Line: Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing