Drum

Donated to the Museum in 1866 by Dartmouth shipbuilder Richard Redway. Redway’s brother Thomas had a fleet of trading ships that sailed to Africa. Although it states on the drum that it was taken from an African temple, it is more likely to mean that it was perhaps acquired from an African shrine. Such a drum would not have been made available for sale to Westerners and was likely abandoned due to insect damage, which happens when wood is left in situ for a length of time.

This is a particularly early rare drum as it depicts snakes and ancestors, each motif and gesture has a meaning that is unknown at this time. The central female form appears to be a priestess who is negotiating with the forces of the ancestral world.

There are similar Kongo drums like this one but they are painted and look as if they have been especially made for sale. These rare items can be found at the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford, Royal Museum for Central Africa in Turvuren, Belgium and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

H. 1025 x Dia. 184 mm