Arched harp (kundi)

Advanced Search

Medium-brown arched harp with two holes in base and strings that connect up the arch to five tuning pegs. Base is an anthropomorphic head

LICENSE IMAGE

ORDER PRINT

DOWNLOAD

Arched harp (kundi)

Mangbetu people

late 19th century

Object Place: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Medium/Technique Wood, cowhide

Dimensions Length 57 cm, width 14.5 cm (Length 22 7/16 in., 5 11/16 in.)

Credit Line Helen and Alice Colburn Fund and William E. Nickerson Fund

Accession Number1994.194

ON VIEW
Lee and Allen Sinai Lobby (Lobby 330.5)

CollectionsAfrica and Oceania, Musical Instruments

ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones

DescriptionWaisted boat-shaped body of wood wrapped with animal skin, held in place by single line of leather stitching along back. Two circular soundholes at opposite corners of sound table. Arched neck of wood terminating in carved elongated head of man with eyes made from white seed beads. Five strings of gut attached to lateral tuning pegs of wood (one later addition) and tied to strip of wood running beneath sound table. Painted in white at base of neck: FX93365

ProvenanceBefore 1994, said to come from "an old colonial collection." By 1994, Marc Leo Felix (dealer), Brussels; 1994, sold by Felix to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 22, 1994)