Africa 2
AFRICA (DISPLAY CASES 45 - 49)
DISPLAY CASE 45
The materials from the Congo Basin
In these vitrines dedicated to the African continent, materials are displayed from the exploratory expeditions carried out in the equatorial regions starting from the middle of the XIX century. One set of objects was originally part of the collection put together by Giacomo Savorgnan de Brazza and Attilio Pecile during the three years of their African stay (1883-1886), alongside his brother Giacomo, Pierre de Brazza, discoverer and then first governor of the territories to the north of the Congo (later named French West Africa, today part of the Gabon and Congo).
The materials gathered during the expedition were in part acquired by the French government, which had financed the mission, and in part sold by the two explorers to the National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography in Rome. It is from this second set that the objects of the Modenese museum originate, having been donated by the director of the Roman museum, Luigi Pigorini. The exchange with the Roman museum also included a number of objects from the collection put together over the same period by the explorer Giacomo Bove over the course of a river journey along the Congo and its tributaries.
This coherent set of Congolese objects was added to in 1907 with the collection carried out by captain Giuseppe Fornaciari during his military service in the colonial troops of the Independent State of Congo: although a limited number of objects, they were clearly chosen on the basis of their quality, yet unlike the other two collections, they unfortunately lack precise indications on the ethnic origins of the objects.
1. Spears with iron tips
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabonese Republic
Brazzà-Pecile Collection, 1887
2. Flyswatter made from the end of an elephant tail sewn onto a wooden handle
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
3. Headdress made with plant fiber and feathers
Stanley Pool, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
4. Arrows with iron tips
Ubanghi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Brazzà-Pecile Collection, 1887
5. Shield made of plant fiber
Alto Ogoue, Gabon
Ndomo and Mbamba peoples
Collezione Brazzà-Pecile, 1887
6. Spear
Democratic Republic of the Congo (?)
Le Beuf acquisition, 1878
DISPLAY CASE 46
Iron Technology
Iron technology has been known in Africa for at least two thousand years. The Congo basin is particularly rich in iron ore, which must, however, travel great distances to reach the populations interested in acquiring it. This led to the specialization by some populations in the extraction of iron, which subsequently became a bargaining chip par excellence.
Each population, each village had its blacksmiths, gathered into compact clans that handed down traditions and powers that often made them very fearsome. Each group of blacksmiths had its own way of making weapons: each ethnic group had specific shapes for large knives, the property of the heads of families, a symbol of their status as valiant warriors.
1. Knife with iron blade
Wooden handle with copper foil and brass studs
Congo Basin
Teke people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
2. Knife with iron blade
Wooden handle covered with leather and copper foil. Sheath of wood, plant fiber and brass studs
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Basotho people (?)
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
3. Knife with iron blade
Handle covered with copper foil and fur pommel
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ngala and Poto peoples
Bove Collection, 1887
4. Knife with iron blade
Handle covered with copper foil and cotton thread at the base of the blade
Alima, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Teke people
Bove Collection, 1887
5. Knives with iron blade
Wooden handle with brass foil and studs and copper wire and cotton thread at the base of the blade
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ngala people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
6. Knife with iron blade
Wooden handle
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Boma people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
7. Loincloth
Plant fiber
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ngala people
Brazzà-Pecile Collection, 1887
DISPLAY CASE 47
8. Saber-shaped knife with iron blade
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Makraka people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
9. Knife with iron blade
Tin-coated wooden sheath decorated with speckles
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Bulianzi people (?)
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
10. Knife with iron blade
Wooden sheath
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Moi people (?)
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
11. Poisoned arrows
Stanley-Pool, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Teke people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
12. Plant fiber quiver with iron-tipped arrows
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Aka people
Acquisition 1890
13. Knife with iron blade
blackened on the inside
Haut Ogooué, Gabonese Republic
Ndomo people
Brazzà-Pecile Collection, 1887
14. Knife with iron blade
Gabonese Republic
Ndomo people
Brazzà-Pecile Collection, 1887
DISPLAY CASE 48
1. Plant fiber wicker
Eastern province
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
2. “Clay bottle, hand engraved, to measure palm oil for sales”
Ubanghi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Brazzà-Pecile Collection, 1887
3-4. “Dishes used by the Ondumbo to cook food and eat it”
Haut Ogooué, Gabonese Republic
Ndomo people
Brazzà-Pecile Collection, 1887
5. Ivory pestle
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ngala people
Bove Collection, 1887
6. Ivory bracelet
United Republic of Tanzania
Niamwesi people
Tacchini donation, 1890
7. Ivory pin
Republic of the Sudan or Democratic Republic of the Congo
Zande people
Acquisition 1890
8. Comb
Cabinda, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Bove Collection, 1887
9. Iron bracelets
Haut Ogooué, Gabonese Republic
Brazzà-Pecile Collection, 1887
10. “Pagne or raffia cloth made with the epidermis of raphia vinifera leaves by the Baianzi to make aprons and mosquito nets”
Haut Ogooué, Republic of the Congo
Brazzà-Pecile Collection
11. Wooden container
Ubanghi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
DISPLAY CASE 49
Musical instruments
The group of African musical instruments in the display case boasts some uncommon instruments of notable interest, such as the pluriarc and the mbira (finger piano). The pluriarc is considered a transitional instrument from the more primitive musical bow to the more elaborate string instruments. The mbira is a recently created African idiophone, consisting of a hollowed wooden tablet to which iron plates of varying lengths are affixed and made to vibrate with the fingers or a hammer.
1. Cithara on a stick with two strings
Gourd sound box and bridge made from a feather quill
United Republic of Tanzania (?)
Collected in Zanzibar during a voyage
of the Corvette Vettor Pisani, 1894
2. Symmetrical lyre
Sound box in wood and leather membrane
Restored and restrung
Republic of the Sudan
3. Cithara on a stick with two strings
Gourd sound box and bridge made from a feather quill
Kasai, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Luba people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
4. Iron bell with external striker (missing)
Wooden handle, possibly not original
Khartoum, Republic of the Sudan
Malmusi donation, 1876
5. “Sheet iron bell common among the blacks of Upoto and other villages of the Upper Congo”
Democratic Republic of the Congo or Gabonese Republic
Ngala people
Bove Collection, 1887
6. Iron bell
Republic of Ghana
Corradi acquisition, 1982
7. Wooden pluriarc with five strings
Restrung with intestine strings, originally of plant fiber
Stanley Pool, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Teke people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
8. Wooden harp with five strings
Leather sound box
Ubangi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Sango people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
9. Wooden harp with eight strings
Leather sound box
United Republic of Tanzania or the Republic of Uganda
Collected in Zanzibar during a voyage of the Corvette Vettor Pisani, 1894
10. Wooden cithara with thirteen strings
Uelé, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Likuangula people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
11. Wooden mbira with ten iron plates (three missing)
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ngala people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907
12. Wooden mbira with ten bamboo reeds and open sound box
Ubanghi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Benge people
Fornaciari Collection, 1907