Whistle

Object Details

Kongo artist

Label Text

Kongo whistles could function as hunter's amulets or as part of a ritual specialist's equipment. From a functional viewpoint, this whistle is illustrated upside down; the musician would have blown across the wide opening of the antelope horn. The man grasping the animal by the horns probably refers to a Kongo proverb. It is suggestive of control and the spiritual hunting of the ritual specialist..

Description

Whistle in two parts with (a) being the whistle finial decorated in the shape of a man grasping a horned animal by the neck and (b) as the whistle mouth piece and sound box of duiker antelope horn.

Provenance

S. Thomas Alexander III, Saint Louis, -- to 1976

Harold Gray, 1976 to 2015

Exhibition History

Healing Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 2016 - June 26, 2019

Published References

Sotheby's New York: Thursday, May 16, 2013 [Lot 164], African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art

Content Statement

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Credit Line

Gift of Harold Gray

Late 19th to early 20th century

Object number

2015-9-12

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Sculpture

Medium

Wood, duiker antelope horn

Dimensions

H x W x D: 18.5 × 5.5 × 3.3 cm (7 5/16 × 2 3/16 × 1 5/16 in.)

Geography

Congo

See more items in

National Museum of African Art Collection

Object Name

nsiba

National Museum of African Art

Topic

Hunting/Fishing

antelope

Male use

Power

male

Record ID

nmafa_2015-9-12

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys78f3c4fa5-b1c5-4503-81bb-99d1c314b027