Search Results:

Viewing Record 1 of 3 >>
View : Light Box | List View | Image List | Detailed		 


Maker(s):Unknown
Culture:Congolese, Bantu people, Songye
Title:Katatora
Date Made:early 20th century
Type:Ceremonial
Materials:Wood
Place Made:Africa; Democratic Republic of the Congo
Measurements:Overall: 5 1/2 x 3 3/4 x 2 in; 14 x 9.5 x 5.1 cm; Base: 1 1/8 x 4 1/4 x 2 5/8 in; 2.9 x 10.8 x 6.7 cm
Accession Number:  AC 1999.1
Credit Line:Gift of the Estate of Barry D. Maurer (Class of 1959)
Museum Collection:  Mead Art Museum at Amherst College
1999-1.jpg

Label Text:
This elegant, upright sculpture represents a type of friction divination device called a katatora. The dominant element of the composition is a head composed of two faces looking in opposite directions, suggesting the ability to see into the past as well as into the future. The lower half is abstract, consisting of an elegant, smooth oval ring, which would be grasped by the diviner and client in ritual practice. The sculpture was carved from a very hard wood, whose vomit-inducing sap invokes the instrument’s purpose to compel the truth to proclaim itself.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1999.1

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

Viewing Record 1 of 3 >>