slit-drum
- Museum number
- Am1949,22.218
- Description
-
Register 1949:
Wooden slit gong, slit-drum, with carved ornament representing an owl.
- Production date
- 1300 -1521
- Dimensions
-
Height: 16.50 centimetres
-
Length: 50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
McEwan 1994, p.7:
'This horizontal drum (known as teponaztli in the Aztec language Nahuatl) is made from a specially chosen wood and embellished with a low relief carving of of the head of a horned owl (tecolotl). As a creature of the night that nests in hidden recesses, the owl was perceived as an emissary from the underworld'
-
Register 1949:
Mexico.
Oldman Collection, Oldman No. 891.
See ETH DOC 1307.
- Location
- On display (G27/dc4)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1990 20 Oct-9 Dec, Japan, Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.212
1991 5 Jan-20 Feb, Japan, Yamaguchi, Prefectural Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.212
1991 9 Mar-7 May, Japan, Osaka, National Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.212
2003 Oct-2004 Jan, London, Hayward Gallery, 'Saved!100 Years of the National Art Collections Fund', no.69
- Acquisition date
- 1949
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Am1949,22.218
