1978.54.McD Harp with human head (_kundi_)

The arched neck of this harp ends in a sculpted head with eyes made of precious imported blue beads. The shape of the head is echoed in the lozenge-shaped sounding box covered with leather and decorated with geometric designs. It has been suggested that the head alludes to the ancestors whose voices sound through the harp. Figurative pegs fitted into the arched neck tuned the strings stretched between the pegs and the sounding box. The missing original pegs and strings have been replaced.

Zande kings in the 19th-century owned five-stringed harps that were played at their pleasure by royal harpists residing in the palace. According to an Italian visitor of the day, harps were so favored that itinerant singers took their harps to war, and those who owned figurative harps treasured them. The harp remains a favorite musical instrument in contemporary Zande society.

Roslyn A. Walker, Label text, Arts of Africa, 2015.

n.d.: Helmet Gernsheim, Castagnola, Lugano, Switzerland

n.d.: Stillman Collection, New York/Dallas

1978: Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Eugene and Margaret McDermott, purchased from above [1], [2]

[1] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

[2] Works of art given or purchased by The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., a non-profit organization, are placed in the custody of the DMA for the purpose of public display on the premises of the Museum or in other recognized art galleries or museums. The title to all works of art purchased (or otherwise acquired) by the McDermott Art Fun remains with the Fund.

"Zilo", from Forest Music: Nothern Beligan Congo, 1952; music bar audio from All the World's A Stage; related to Harp with human head (kundi), 13309088: UMO

Apply to objects where number equals 1978.54.McD