Lot 16
  • 16

Baga Equestrian Drum, Guinea

Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 USD
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Description

  • wood, paint, hide
  • Height: 57 3/4 in (147 cm)

Provenance

Aaron Furman, New York
Allan Stone, New York, acquired from the above on March 17, 1966

Catalogue Note

This magnificent Baga drum was used during male initiation ceremonies. Underscoring the primacy of male political power, the stallion was a symbol of power and invincibility. Lamp (1996: 183) notes: "The horse, unknown in Bagaland, was a borrowed motif inspired by the mounts of colonial officers, and endowed the elders' drum with a supernatural kind of authority."

The Allan Stone Baga drum closely relates to one drum in the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris (previously Musée des Arts Africains et Océaniens, inv. no. "73.1965.1.12") and another one in the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, Toronto (inv. no. "959.170").