Lyre (ndongo, endongo, entongoli, or kissar) (by 1928): Art, History and Details

Lyre (ndongo, endongo, entongoli, or kissar) (by 1928) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Lyres are common instruments across eastern Africa. The many names––endongo, ndongo, kissar, or entongoli—reflect how many different groups use this Ugandan type. This example is made from a wooden bowl-shaped sound box covered in the skin of a reptile, possibly a monitor lizard. The strings lead up to a crossbar once decorated with goat hair tassels at each end and sometimes cowrie shells.

Object facts

• Title: Lyre (ndongo, endongo, entongoli, or kissar)
• Date: by 1928
• Culture: Africa, East Africa, Uganda, Ganda or Soga style, unknown maker
• Type: Musical Instrument
• Technique: Wood, reptile skin, pelt, cloth, and natural fiber
• Dimensions: Diameter: 31.8 cm (12 1/2 in.); Overall: 43.2 cm (17 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1929.346

A detail from the museum

Imagine the buzzing, resonant sound that this string instrument would make.

Collection credit

Gift of the African Art Sponsors of Karamu House

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.