Details
ITEM #:
5604
ETHNICITY:
Nyamwezi
ORIGIN:
Tanzania
MEDIUM:
Wood.
DIMENSIONS:
22″ Tall (55.9 cm) / 23″ (58.4 cm) on Stand
CONDITION:
Excellent
NOTE:
Custom display stand included with purchase.
PROVENANCE:
Private Estate Collection – California, USA.
CATALOGUE NOTE:
This Nyamwezi zither, or 5-string harp, comes from the largest ethnic groups in north-central Tanzania, the Nyamwezi and the Kwere peoples. Harps and other stringed instruments are musical instruments that play crucial roles in many religious and secular ceremonial functions, including dance, rituals and story-telling. Wooden musical instruments often incorporate the anthropomorphic form in the frame of the instrument. In an Nyamwezi zither, the figure (known as a Zoromo), surmounts a traditional stringed instrument. It can be hung on a wall or mounted. The Nyamwezi belief systems, as well as their social and political structures have their foundation in the veneration of ancestors and chiefs. This belief system is strongly reflected in the Nyamwezi art, their anthropomorphic figures often depicted with bulbous heads, elongated bodies and articulated limbs and circular (sometimes inset beaded) eyes.
