Mumuye
Figurative Gong
Mumuye, 1866-1932
Scroll
Mumuye
Figurative Gong
Mumuye, 1866-1932
Physical Qualities
Wood, 36 3/4 H x 7 1/16 Diam. in. (93.4 x 18 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Robert Elkin, Mitchellville, Maryland
Object Number
1999.596
Little is known of this rare Mumuye gong. Once used as a percussive instrument, its form suggests the body of a woman. In the past, the fashion was for Mumuye women only - and not men - to elongate their earlobes. At one point, efforts were made in Nigeria to repair the crack that now dominates the front of this form. Such protective care provides insight into the esteem in which its owner held this work of art.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1999; Herbert Baker, Los Angeles, 1978, who purchased it in Africa before 1969.
'African Art in American Collections,' Survey 1989 - Robbins, Nooter, pg. 556, #1528.
Frederick John Lamp, "See the Music Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art." New York: Prestel, 2003, p.96, ill.
New York (N.Y.). Museum of Primitive Art, "The Herbert Baker Collection." New York: Distributed by New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, Conn., 1969, p.18, cat. no. 89.
Fry, Jacqueline, ed., "Twenty-five African Sculptures," Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada for the Corporation of the National Museums of Canada, 1978.
Musée National des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, Arts du Nigéria: Collection du Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie: 22 avril-18 août 1997, Paris: Le Musée: Réunion des musées nationaux: Diffusion, Seuil, c1997, pp 235-9.
Musée National des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, Arts du Nigéria: Collection du Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie: 22 avril-18 août 1997, Paris: Le Musée: Réunion des musées nationaux: Diffusion, Seuil, c1997, pp 235-9.
