Bongo Dinka Funerary Figural Trumpet with Indigenous Repair

This is a large Bongo funerary figural trumpet, carved in wood and decorated with metal studs and hammered metal inlay.

The figure stands an impressive 47 inches tall, placing it among the larger examples of Bongo sculptural trumpets. The piece is hollowed, with a circular opening in the torso, a characteristic feature seen in many figural trumpets from South Sudan and neighboring regions, including similar traditions in Central Africa and Uganda. Figural trumpets of this type are considered uncommon in collections. Their scale, craftsmanship, and cultural significance make them important examples of Bongo material culture. This particular specimen shows evidence of considerable age and handling and would be a major addition to a collection of African sculpture or musical/ritual instruments.

The Bongo people lived in the southern part of the province of Bahr-el-Ghazal, in the grasslands of South Sudan. In the mid-19th century, they numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but migrations, conflict, and slave-raiding reduced their population dramatically. By the mid-20th century, their numbers had dwindled, and today they are dispersed across Sudan with limited cultural cohesion. In the past, the Bongo honored heroic warriors and hunters with sculpted funerary markers known as Ngya. These were placed over graves within fenced compounds during ceremonies held a year after death to ensure the deceased’s acceptance into the ancestral community.

The shapes of these markers ranged from naturalistic figures to highly abstracted forms, sometimes a hybrid of both. The abstract patterns beneath the head were said to represent the number of enemies or large animals the individual had killed, symbolizing status and prestige.
This figure displays that hybrid style, blending realism in the head with abstraction in the body.

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