Lot: 487

88th Tribal Art Auction

Anthropomorphic slit-drum "n-koku"

D. R. Congo, Zombo

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
Lempertz, Cologne, 15 March 1997, lot 85
Dirk Vonck, Brussels, Belgium
Wolf-Bernard Müller, Krefeld, Germany
H: 18.1 inch This object is not available anymore.

wood, reddish brown patina, black paint, slightly dam., cracks with traces of old resin repairs, missing parts, base.
This slit-drum signals the presence of the "ngaanga ngoombu" and provides the rhythm for many of the chants. The hollow interior can serve as a mixing container for preparing and serving medicines, and laid horizontally, the instrument is used as the diviners stool.


Bourgeois, Arthur P., Art of the Yaka and Suku, Paris 1984, p. 100