HOLDINGS FROM AFRICA The Peabody’s African collections comprise over 20,000 artifacts. A few of these date to the early nineteenth century, e.g., a bird-head harp from Sierra Leone, collected in 1800 by Captain Boyd. The three major groups of ethnographic objects were collected during the first half of the 20th century from three regions: Liberia, southern Cameroon, and Uganda. These consist of diverse items used in daily life or rituals, such as baskets, hats, stools, vessels, combs, ornaments, divination implements and tools. The fourth major African collection consists of more than 200 musical instruments, ranging from drums and xylophones to string instruments and horns. A few wooden sculptures, such as Poro society masks from Liberia, a Baluba chief’s stool supported by a carved female figure from the Congo, a carved door from the Senufo, Ivory Coast, and human figure carvings from the Gabon-Cameroon region, are widely ranked among the finest examples of African art. Other objects of artistic interest derive from widely dispersed peoples. These include Tuareg jewelry, swords and leatherwork; a Benin bronze head, plaques, and ivory statuette; Kuba embroidered cloth from Zaire; beadwork from southern Africa, and elaborate woodcarvings, colorful masks, and carved elephant tusks from the Congo. Related links: Archaeological Holdings
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