Guitar/string instrument

Museum number: UEM40419 

Material: Leather, wood, bamboo and vegetable fibre 

Region and culture: Uele, Mangbetu people 

Description: Guitar with a 34.6 cm long resonance chamber made of leather with two holes. The neck is made of a wooden female figure. Between the neck and the resonance box there are five strings made of bamboo fibre. Many of these figurative Mangbetu guitars went from being functional musical instruments to more decorative artistic objects. These guitars were commonly found amongst the Mangbetu aristocrats. The female figure reflects traditional hairstyles that emphasizes the elongated head shapes also commonly found amongst the Mangbetu aristocrats.  

This guitar was collected and sold to the Ethnographic museum by Dr. J. Cammermeyer. 1948.