{
"data": {
"id": 94940,
"accession_number": "1915.495",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Lamellophone (chisanji), late 1800s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo or Angola, Chokwe-style maker. Wood, iron, and wire; overall: 19.1 x 10.2 x 6.4 cm (7 1/2 x 4 x 2 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Harold T. Clark Educational Extension Fund, 1915.495",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Lamellophone (chisanji)",
"creation_date": "late 1800s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1880,
"creation_date_latest": 1900,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo or Angola, Chokwe-style maker"
],
"technique": "Wood, iron, and wire",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Musical Instrument",
"measurements": "Overall: 19.1 x 10.2 x 6.4 cm (7 1/2 x 4 x 2 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.191,
"width": 0.102,
"depth": 0.064
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 218538,
"title": "Chokwe! Art and Initiation Among Chokwe and Related Peoples",
"description": "Chokwe! Art and Initiation Among Chokwe and Related Peoples. Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL (organizer) (November 1, 1998-January 3, 1999); The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (June 13-September 5, 1999); Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN (October 24, 1999-January 16, 2000).",
"opening_date": "1998-11-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 301531,
"title": "Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths",
"description": "Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths. Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (June 3-December 30, 2018); National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC (February 10-October 20, 2019); Mus\u00e9e du quai Branly, Paris, France (November 10, 2019-August 16, 2020).",
"opening_date": "2018-06-03T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 535628,
"title": "Narrative Wisdom and African Arts",
"description": "Narrative Wisdom and African Arts. Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (organizer) (October 19, 2024-January 5, 2025) https://www.slam.org/exhibitions/narrative-wisdom-and-african-arts/.",
"opening_date": "2024-10-19T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Sounding Forms: African Musical Instruments. The National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC (organizer)(April 23\u2013June 18, 1989) The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA (July 16-September 10, 1989); Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO (October 7-November 26, 1989); Mus\u00e9e des Arts Africains, Paris, France ( January 6-March 3, 1990).",
"opening_date": "1989-04-23T04:00:00Z"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "(F. M. Rapp, probably by field collection in Portuguese West Africa (Angola) or Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"\"In the spring of 1916, Mr. F. M. Rapp, mining engineer, now at Tonopah, Nevada, returned from the Belgian Congo, Central Africa, where he has been engaged for two years in geological work along the Kasai River and its tributaries.\"
M. G. Edwards, \"Diamond-bearing gravel from Belgian Congo,\" American Mineralogist (1917) 2 (7): 88\u201389.
"
],
"date": "by 1915",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(F. M. Rapp, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1915",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1915-",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The CMA acquired this plucky instrument in 1915, one year before it opened to the public.",
"description": "The thumb piano portrays a wonderfully animated man riding a curious quadruped. His hat suggests he is probably a trader (pombeiro) engaged in long-distance commerce.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79475802"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1915.495-lamellophone-chisanj"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Wixom, WIlliam D. \"African Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art.\" In African Arts. 10, no. 3. (April 1977): 16-25.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 16; reproduced: p. 19",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/3335296"
},
{
"citation": "Bourgeois, Arthur P, et al. Sounding Forms : African Musical Instruments. Edited by Brincard Marie-The\u0301re\u0300se. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1989.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 131, fig. 74.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Chanda, Jacqueline. African Arts & Cultures. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 1993.",
"page_number": "P. 75",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Jorda\u0301n, Manuel, and Marie Louise Bastin. Chokwe!: Art and Initiation Among the Chokwe and Related Peoples. Munich: Prestel, 1998.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.",
"page_number": "reproduced: fig. 2, p. 13",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine, \"African Art Revisited\", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 43 no. 09, November 2003",
"page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 4-5",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2003-09/page/n3"
},
{
"citation": "Chemeche, George, and John Pemberton. The Horse Rider in African Art. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2011.",
"page_number": "p. 106",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Berzock, Kathleen Bickford, and Christa Clarke. Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 105, fig. 5.1",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"A World of Great Art for Everyone.\" In Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display, edited by Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke, 104-121. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 104; reproduced: p. 105, fig. 5.1",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Roberts, Allen F., Tom Joyce, Marla Berns, William Joseph Dewey, Henry John Drewal, Candice Lee Goucher, and Rowland Abiodun. Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths. Los Angeles, California: Fowler Museum at UCLA, 2019.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 427, fig. 17.3; discussed: p. 430.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Second Careers : Two Tributaries in African Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 18, fig. 1; mentioned: p. 19",
"url": "https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1090438741"
}
],
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"creditline": "The Harold T. Clark Educational Extension Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": "82596352e4c849508593bf8c6e37340b",
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"sortable_date": 1880,
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"updated_at": "2026-04-09 20:17:36.192000"
}
}