Hand Drumcirca 1909

Not on view

Carved wood hourglass drum with a ragged animal skin head, painted with rust red and cream spiral motifs and a stylized face in relief

Carved wooden slit drum, cylindrical form tapering toward the base, with a stretched animal-skin head at the top. Body densely carved with curvilinear relief patterns in dark brown and reddish tones, featuring a bird figure clinging to the upper left side and stylized face motifs integrated into the scrolling designs.

Title: Hand Drum
Culture: Eastern Iatmul People
Place Made: Papua New Guinea, East Sepik Province
Date Made: circa 1909
Medium: Wood, fiber, shell, animal hide, and pigment
Dimensions: Height: 23 3/4 in. (60.33 cm); Diameter: 9 in. (22.86 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number: M.2008.66.22
Classification: Tools and Equipment
Collecting Area: Art of the Pacific
Curatorial Notes: Gallery Label
This hand drum is carved from a single log, and a mammal-skin tympanum is attached at one end on which to play it as an instrument. One of only three known of its type, this drum is believed to be Chambri culture in its origin. The drum would have been traded to the Iatmul, another Middle Sepik River people, and then decorated and used in their traditional ceremonies. Ornamented with a spiral motif on the lower half of the drum, a cassowary bird is carved into the handle above a grimacing face. The black patina of the drum is the result of age, use, and exposure to smoke during storage, which protected the wood from invading insects.
These drums provided dramatic audio accompaniment during special ceremonies. This drum was used for ceremonial purposes—including funeral and initiation rituals, dedications of new clan houses, and canoe launchings—but not in secret rites.
Provenance: Collected by Captain Haug, in 1909. Arthur J. Speyer, Jr., Berlin. Carlo Monzino (1931–1996), Lugano, Switzerland. Anonymous (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 10 November 1987, lot 118). Masco Corporation Collection, Livonia, MI, sold 2008 through; [Sotheby’s, New York, to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Wardwell, Allen. Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection. [Seattle]: University of Washington Press, 1994.

Hand Drumcirca 1909

Not on view

Title: Hand Drum
Culture: Eastern Iatmul People
Place Made: Papua New Guinea, East Sepik Province
Date Made: circa 1909
Medium: Wood, fiber, shell, animal hide, and pigment
Dimensions: Height: 23 3/4 in. (60.33 cm); Diameter: 9 in. (22.86 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number: M.2008.66.22
Classification: Tools and Equipment
Collecting Area: Art of the Pacific
Curatorial Notes: Gallery Label
This hand drum is carved from a single log, and a mammal-skin tympanum is attached at one end on which to play it as an instrument. One of only three known of its type, this drum is believed to be Chambri culture in its origin. The drum would have been traded to the Iatmul, another Middle Sepik River people, and then decorated and used in their traditional ceremonies. Ornamented with a spiral motif on the lower half of the drum, a cassowary bird is carved into the handle above a grimacing face. The black patina of the drum is the result of age, use, and exposure to smoke during storage, which protected the wood from invading insects.
These drums provided dramatic audio accompaniment during special ceremonies. This drum was used for ceremonial purposes—including funeral and initiation rituals, dedications of new clan houses, and canoe launchings—but not in secret rites.
Provenance: Collected by Captain Haug, in 1909. Arthur J. Speyer, Jr., Berlin. Carlo Monzino (1931–1996), Lugano, Switzerland. Anonymous (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 10 November 1987, lot 118). Masco Corporation Collection, Livonia, MI, sold 2008 through; [Sotheby’s, New York, to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Wardwell, Allen. Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection. [Seattle]: University of Washington Press, 1994.