IDNO

N.13032.GIJ

Description

An UFO drum or slit gong with the carving of a head at one end. The drum is made from a log and hollowed out with a longitudinal slit. The stylised head is cylindrical in shape, the eyes are almond-shaped under arched brows, the nose is triangular and the mouth curved, the neck is elongated. The drum is propped up against a tree and in the background are houses with raffia palm roofs and trees and shrubs behind.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; Eastern Nigeria; Cross River; near Afikpo

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Ohaffia

Named Person

Photographer

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Collector / Expedition

Date

1932 - 1939

Collection Name

Jones Collection

Source

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in a film storage album labelled “Misc.” by G. I. Jones, and numbered “C10/” by the cataloguer.

Context:
Jones discusses the two different types of instruments which the name drum is given, namely true or membrane drums and slit drums, which were really gongs....A slit drum was usually made from a log in which the two ends had been left intact but in which the centre had been removed through a narrow longitudinal slit (Jones, 1984, p.115)

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I., 1984, The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press)

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 12/10/2007]