M'Kul
Unknown Artist
late 19th century
Medium
Wood
Dimensions
Height: 25 in. (63.5 cm) Diameter: 14 in. (35.6 cm)
Classification
Idiophone-Struck-slit drum
Culture
Fang people
Department
Musical Instruments
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889
Accession Number
89.4.556
Art Historical Context
Nestled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Musical Instruments collection, the *M'Kul* is a striking wooden slit drum crafted by an unknown artist of the Fang people in the late 19th century. 25 inches tall and 14 inches in diameter this idiophone—struck to produce resonant tones—exemplifies the Fang's masterful woodworking traditions from Central Africa, regions including Gabon, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea. cylindrical form, precisely carved from a single piece of wood with a narrow slit along the top, allowed for varied sounds through striking different sides, a technique central to man...