Fokwe mi drum
This drum is a pair with 1995.64.10.
Each Lagoon peer group marked its ascent from youth to adulthood by acquiring a fokwe mi. These monumental drums were the focus of rites of passage that dramatized the transfer of power from one generation to the next. While a rising cohort might commission its own instrument from a specialist, age-mates might alternatively steal the drum of a more senior cohort. Played at an angle because of its exaggerated height, a fokwe mi issues a deep, resonant voice that signals an ancestral presence. Here a rhythmically incised surface has been enhanced by the application of white kaolin. The chevron "warrior" motif, called sagohin, and stool-like base signify the collective power of the emerging age-grade, itself represented through a ring of tsuan huen (carved heads).
Each Lagoon peer group marked its ascent from youth to adulthood by acquiring a fokwe mi. These monumental drums were the focus of rites of passage that dramatized the transfer of power from one generation to the next. While a rising cohort might commission its own instrument from a specialist, age-mates might alternatively steal the drum of a more senior cohort. Played at an angle because of its exaggerated height, a fokwe mi issues a deep, resonant voice that signals an ancestral presence. Here a rhythmically incised surface has been enhanced by the application of white kaolin. The chevron "warrior" motif, called sagohin, and stool-like base signify the collective power of the emerging age-grade, itself represented through a ring of tsuan huen (carved heads).
Artwork Details
- Title: Fokwe mi drum
- Artist: Eastern Lagoons artist
- Date: 19th–mid-20th century
- Geography: southeastern Côte d'Ivoire
- Culture: Lagoon peoples
- Medium: Wood, kaolin
- Dimensions: H. 64 × W. 10 in. (162.6 × 25.4 cm)
Circum. 34 1/2 in. (87.6 cm) - Classification: Wood-Musical Instruments
- Credit Line: From the Collection of Nina and Gordon Bunshaft, Bequest of Nina Bunshaft, 1994
- Object Number: 1995.64.9
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
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