The Horniman’s African Worlds Gallery is Britain’s first permanent exhibition dedicated to celebrating African cultural heritage and contemporary art. In addition to a showcase of Ancient Egyptian artefacts featuring an Egyptian Mummy, Shabti figures, amulets and canopic jars, the collections focus extensively on West and Sub-Saharan Africa. These include a fine selection of Benin Plagues, an Nkanu Mask from the Republic of Congo, Ethiopian Crowns, and headrests from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Somalia. The majestic Igbo Ijele from Nigeria – at 20ft high it is the largest African mask and the only of its kind on display in Britain - also dominates the Gallery with its sheer size and striking array of motifs. There is also a fine selection of musical instruments from the region including a pair of Egyptian 3,500 year-old bone clappers and an exquisitely decorated ceremonial lyre from Eritrea. Other instruments include lamellaphones from Sierra Leone and a fine selection of wind instruments from Nigeria.

More details of the Africa collection

The Asian collections are particularly rich in art, including carvings, and sculptures of gods, masks and puppets and other items from India, China, Japan, Sri Lanka and Burma. Many of the objects on display were part of Frederick Horniman’s original collection and include important examples of stone sculptures, costumes and ritual objects such as a display of Sri Lankan healing masks - once worn by dancers in healing ceremonies to expel evil spirits. Other objects include Japanese Buddhas, Chinese musical dolls, a Ramayana Costume from India, Malabar caste figures and a Tibetan shrine featuring ritual implements and metal figures representing the Tibetan patron deity of Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion.

More details of the Asian collection

The musical instrument collection at the Horniman Museum is the most comprehensive in the UK with more than 8000 instruments representing music from all around the globe.

The internationally renowned gallery includes an exhibition illustrating the oldest written classification system for musical instruments – the bayin of China.

The classification known as the bayin is attributed to the legendary Emperor Shun (ruled 2255-2206 BC) and was devised in China 4,300 years-ago. It may have its basis in practices involving sympathetic magic for controlling the weather and food production. In the bayin, instruments used in religious rituals were divided into eight groups, according to the materials from which they were made.

Theoretically, the eight were associated with different combinations of the symbols for the two complementary principles, yin and yang. They were also associated with the seasons, points of the compass and various forces of nature.

Instruments representing each element of the bayin in the Horniman Music Gallery include:

· Qing, lithophone (stone). China c.1764

· Zhong, externally strung bell (metal). China c. before 1882

· Ojn, half tube zither (silk). China, mid-19th century

· Mu yu, slit drum and beater (wood). China, before 1870

· Tanggu, barrel drum and stand (skin). China, 19th century

· Sheng, mouth organ (gourd). China, before 1912

· Hun, vessel flute used in Buddhist ritual honouring Confucius (earth). Korea c. 2000

· So, panpines used in Buddhist ritual honouring Confucius (bamboo). Korea c. 2000

Highlights include:

Sho, Mouth Organ

The sho is derived from a similar free reed instrument, the sheng, a mouth organ that was imported to Japan from China around the 8th century CE. According to legend, the sho, like the sheng, represents the mythical phoenix and its cry. The best bamboo for the pipes is said to be found in old houses, in the rafters above the fireplace where it has been seasoned in the smoke for many years. A metal reed is attached at each of the 15 sounding pipes, concealed within the wind chamber. When the finger hole in the side of each pipe is closed, the reed is made to sound by blowing or suction.

Carlton jazz drum kit. London, 1937 This striking 1930’s drum kit features a selection of wooden blocks and two cymbals (before 1870) from China.

Other Chinese instruments in the Horniman’s Music Gallery are:

· Barrel drum played by children at New Year festivals. China, late 19th century or early 20thy century.

· Vessel Rattle. China, T’ang Dynasty AD 618-905

· Yueqin, Lute. Beijing, c. 1975

· Sihu, Spike fiddle and bow. China, 19th century

· Musical Box. China, 20th century

· Yuequin, Moon guitar. China, before 1948

· Notched end-blown flute of Blanc de Chine. c. 18th century

· Yunluo, Frame of gongs and beater. China, 19th century

· Muyu, Wooden slit drum used in Buddhist worship and beater. China, late 19th century or early-20th century

Nomadic material

The Horniman holds many objects relating to nomadic culture, including some very old material from China. The nomadic-related material dating from the first millennium BC in the Chinese collection consists almost entirely of weapons: flint and bronze arrowheads in leaf and triangular shapes; a jade arrowhead engraved with symbols; two bronze knives, one with a ring hilt characteristic of those used by the northern border peoples of China and Siberia; and a bronze sword, dating from the Han Dynasty (206BC - 220AD) Material from a later date includes trade items such as silks and tea bricks.

There's still debate about when nomadism arose in China - in one version the development of wheeled transport and other technology in the 3rd millennium BC was the catalyst. By the 9th century BC nomadic peoples became increasingly troublesome to the Chinese, and the Chou emperors drove them West. However some nomadic societies resisted the Chinese pressure and remained a recurrent threat, as well as repeatedly founding dynasties which conquered and ruled China itself.

In the second century BC the Huns, or 'Hsiung-Nu' founded the first great nomadic empire which controlled the whole of the Silk Road between China and the West. For more information, read Ken Teague’s Nomads which describes the Horniman collections in this area.

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There is a substantial amount of Japanese material throughout the Horniman.

CENTENARY GALLERY:

Noh Theatre Masks x6

The themes from Noh plays derive from folk stories, legends and historical events. The acting style is subtle and stylised and is based on Zen Buddhism. The performance, in masks and elaborate costumes, takes place in a specially designed stage, and is accompanied by an orchestra of a flute and three types of drum. Noh masks are made from Japanese Cypress. A single mask is carved and painted for a period which may stretch from 21 days to a lifetime as the carver strives to perfect his/her skill. Today, both men and women, celebrated mask carvers and their pupils as well as amateur sculptures carve Noh Masks. Outstanding mask carvers may be designated as ‘Living Treasures.’

Bunraku Puppets x3

Bunraku, a complex performance style combining puppetry, chanting and music, developed in Osaka in the 18th century, but is closely related to older puppet traditions. Still performed on the island of Awaji. Banraku and Awaji puppetry uses three manipulators to achieve life-like movements, which characterise the artform. The ashi-zukai manipulates the feet of the puppet; the hidari-zukai, the left-hand; and the omo-zukai, the head and right hand.

MUSIC GALLERY:

Japanese Doll Festival

The doll festival, hina-matsuri takes place each year on 3rd March. During the festival, families pray for happiness and healthy growth of young girls. The Imperial Court is represented in the celebrations by hina-ningyo, sets of dolls displayed by families with girls. The emperor and empress dolls wear elaborate court dress. Musicians are among members of the Imperial household, playing miniature examples of instruments used in the performance of the hayashi ensemble which accompanies the actors singing in Noh Theatre. Noh Theatre became a popular entertainment after its foundation by K. Kammami (d1384) and M. Zeami (d1443) under the patronage of a shogun, but from the 17th to the mid-19th century it was restricted to the Samurai class and the courts.

Instruments Used in the Music of the Japanese Court:

Gaku biwa, lute, with later soundtable. Japan, 18th or 19th Century

Sho, mouth organ, with covers and case. Japan, 1773

Hichiriki, cylindrical oboe. Japan, probably 19th Century

Ryuteki and komabue, transverse flutes and case. Japan, probably 19th Century.

Instruments of the Hayashi Ensemble used in Japanese Noh Theatre:

Taiko, barrel drum with beaters. Japan. Nokan, transverse flute. Japan, 19th century

Kotsuzumi, hourglass-shaped drum. Japan, 19th century

Dolls from a set for Hina-Matsuri Festival:

Screen. Japan, late 19th or early 20th century

Emperor. Japan, late 19th or early 20th c.

Vases of Flowers. Japan, late 19th century or early 20th c.

Empress. Japan, late 19th or early 20th c.

Lamps. Japan, late 19th or early 20th c. Musician playing the taiko or barrel drum with beaters. Japan, late 19th or early 20th c.

Musican playing the otsuzumi, an hourglass-shaped drum. Japan, late 19th or early 20th c.

Musician playing kotsuzumi, an hourglass-shaped drum. Japan, late 19th or early 20th c.

Musician playing the nokan, or transverse flute. Japan, late 19th or early 20th century c.

Other Japanese musical instruments in the Horniman Music Gallery:

Kin, resting bell. Japan, 19th c. Rei priest’s handbell. Japan, 19th c. Azum-rtu Nigen-kin, half tube zither with plectrum and turning slide. Tokyo, 1870

Yamaha tenor saxophone. Japan, 1992 Sho, mouth organ. Japan, 19th century Yamaha DX7. Japan, 1982

Modern Yamaha Boehm-system flute. Japan, 1990

Despite the relatively small number of specimens this is one of the largest collections of Mongolian material in Britain.

The Mongolian collection was acquired from 1948 onwards, and largely consists of recently manufactured material. It numbers about 200 objects, and was assembled during three periods: before 1979:- nine specimens of clothing, dishes, a whip and a shaman's figure; in 1979:- a systematic collection consisting of a tent or ger, and its furnishings; objects relating to animal management, clothing, pastimes, paintings and decorative art both for domestic use and as turistica for the Communist bloc; and after 1979:- thirty-five objects including currency, textiles and turistica.

The centrepiece of the 1979 collection in a typical Mongolian tent or ger. The Horniman's ger is furnished with wardrobes, cupboards, two beds, a wash stand, a table, four stools, and a stove and pipe made from sheet metal; factory made rugs cover the floor and beds. Additional objects include a saddle, ceramic ornaments, food bowls and cooking utensils. There are also wider contextualising objects: a sporting bow and arrows, a matchlock etc, clothing, a chess set, and animal management equipment, hide and hair ropes and hobbles, a pole-lasso, a horse scraper and a dung collecting fork.

The structure of a ger is closely related to Mongolia's religious history, for example the ger is regarded as a model of the universe, the roof represents the sky, the smoke hole, which may be used to tell the time, is also the passageway by which shamans leave the tent to journey to the spirit world. The altar was traditionally Buddhist, in recent years secular and Communist. This entry is an extract from Ken Teague’s book Nomads.

The entire Tibetan collection consists of about 500 objects. Of these, about 140 objects are specifically nomadic, although it is not easy to divide the collection sharply between nomadic and settled peoples. There are two black yak hair tents, a white cotton tent, and four model tents.

The contents of the East Tibetan black tent consist of storage bags made of woven straw and hide, a hanger; sheepskin rugs; a saddle and tack; yak hair ropes, milking pail; cream separator; bellows; a stove; cooking pots and a spatula, and food boxes.

There are a number of objects linked to food preparation. There are yak trappings including nose rings, a hobble and two model yaks. There are horse trappings: saddles, blanket and girth, stirrups etc. Nomadic clothing includes robes, chuba and sheepskins, as well as jewellery. There are also religious items associated with Buddhism.

Most of the material was collected by Horniman curators on special collecting expeditions during the 1980s. The collection includes one tent of white cotton specially commissioned from a refugee tentmaker in the Kathmandu Valley in 1984. It's appliquéd with decoration of Buddhist symbols, colours and prayer flags. White tents were formally used by wealthier people for picnics, or a place to stay during summer festivals. Now Chinese authorities frequently require that Tibetan nomads use these tents for permanent residence: even though Tibetan nomads formally regarded black tents as defining their ethnic identity. This entry is an extract from Ken Teague’s book Nomads.

The African Worlds Gallery houses a selection of Midnight Robber headdresses from the Republic of Trinidad. The headdresses form part of a costume that tells the tale of a fearsome character who roams the earth and emerges to strike fear into the heart of wrong doers. There is also a steel pan made from a recycled oil drum beater from Trinidad housed in the Music Gallery.

The Horniman’s Central and South American collections consist of a spectacular array of masks from Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Bolivia and Mexico housed in the Centenary Gallery. Visitors can also explore a series of striking vodou altars from Haiti and Brazil in the African Worlds Gallery representing the influence of African and African-derived cultural expressions on both sides of the Atlantic. Other Horniman collections from the region include a diverse selection of instruments from the Horniman’s state-of-the-art Music Gallery such as Bolivian panpipes, that were played by llama herders during annual winter journeys from the highlands to the valleys, and string instruments from Venezuela.

The Horniman’s Trading Sounds showcase in the Music Gallery illustrates the impact trade and migration has had on musical forms and instrument design. An illuminating example of this is the Carlton jazz drum kit that incorporates a Turkish-style European military bass drum, a British tabor snare drum and a combination of cymbals and wooden blocks from China.

Collections include extensive holdings of textiles, costume, wooden utensils, paintings on glass, agricultural and domestic implements, puppet theatres and masks from Romania and Poland

The Horniman Museum contains a large amount of material relating to nomadic people, including the Scythians who lived in Southern Russia thousands of years ago. This extract from Ken Teague’s book Nomads describes the Horniman’s holdings relating to this people.

‘Scythian remains are a mixture of locally made and imported artefacts, a mixture typical of many nomadic peoples throughout history. The Horniman collection provides a representative same of Graeco-Scythian grave goods from various sites in South Russia, including Olbia and Kertch, and the Caucasus. It includes vases, a jug, a terracotta figure, a gold earring, beads, rings, a gilt metal horse's head ornament, and bronze fragments.

From about 700BC onwards, Ionian Greeks mostly from Miletus, began establishing colonies on the northern shores of the Black Sea. The nomads encountered by the Greeks were Scythians - cattle herding horse archers who appeared on the Pontic Steppes after they had been driven from the east in 750BC by other nomadic tribes. They are mentioned in one of the earliest accounts of central Asian nomads in Herodotus' Histories (book 4) as “the Scythians who neither sow nor plough”.’

Nomadic material from Afghanistan consists of four items of women's clothing from the Gilzai Kuchis; and ten floor felts, four furnishings, hangings etc. four animal trappings, and two hats.

There are also sixteen items of clothing from the Baluch: Mondrani and Kalpar Bugti were acquired by the museum in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The Horniman collection of bronzes from Iran consists of twenty three objects in several categories including weapons; two bronze axe heads, and two bronze daggers, undated; horse-tack: including two bronze horse bits dated to the 1st millennium BC, and horse trappings, undated; an ornamental animal figure (perhaps representing a bull), undated; and jewellery: two pins, one with a ram's head, dated c. 1200 BC, four bracelets, and two necklets, un-dated. There are also several musical instruments in the collection: including crotal or pellet bells, cymbals and clapper bells.

Iranian culture has been characterised for 3000 years by a mixture of oasis style settlements, with nomadic peoples living in between, often in conflict situations. Luristan bronzes are interpreted as belonging to an elite group of warriors who ruled others who were nomadic. They express a high valuation given to the horse and weapons. There are two styles of Luristan bronzes - and earlier 'settled' style, and a later 'nomadic' style - it's the nomadic style that is represented in the Horniman collections.

One of the Horniman's most notable collections of nomadic material is a felt tent and furnishing from the Shah Sevan people of North-West Iran. It is referred to as an alachikhlalacig. The alachikh is like a flattened hemisphere in shape, about 7 metres in diameter and about 3 metres high. The framework consists of curved wooden struts which radiate to the ground from a central roof-wheel (the Shah Sevan tent is related to Central Asian yurts in its form - in effect a 'trellis' tent without trellis walls). The wheel and struts are held under powerful tension by a rope passing from the roof wheel to a large wooden hook anchored to the massive central wooden tent peg.

The degree of discolouration of the tent felts, which change from white to black with weather and usage, indicates the age of the tent, and so the social status and wealth of the occupants. A rich family will have more than one tent, and at a wedding several tents are used.

(This entry is an extract from Ken Teague’s book Nomads which gives many more details of Nomadic Iranian culture).

Musical collections from the Near and Middle East include an Arabian Peninsula bagpipe and a kamanche – or spike fiddle – from Shiraz, Iran. The instrument dates from the 1800’s and is built with three strings. Housed in the Horniman Music Gallery, the modern kamanche has four strings and is an important instrument in Persian classical music.

The Horniman collection includes about sixty items of Kurdish clothing from the Iran/Iraq border, including complete outfits from a chief and a farmer, and daggers. They were collected by C J Edmonds in 1925. He collected in the villages of Pizhoar, Mangur, Mamish and Ujaq. He wrote several publications about the Kurds of the Lurs region and in Turkey. The Horniman also holds a donkey whip and a floor felt made by Kurds.

The Horniman has a diverse collection of North American artefacts on display including a fine display of Native American headdresses, beaded buckskin shirts and pipe bags from Dakota and the North American Plains. Other objects include a stunning selection of Katsina dolls from the Hopi people who live in the dusty dry lands of Northern Arizona, New Mexico. Meanwhile, the Horniman’s famous stuffed Walrus from Hudson Bay forms the centrepiece of the Natural History Gallery.

In 1966, a hereditary Medicine Man of the Navaho People, Fred Stevens, was commissioned to create a sandpainting. The spectacular Whirling Log design on display in the Horniman’s Gallery Square classically depicts the religious beliefs of the Navaho people who use the paintings to cure illnesses or secure good harvests.

Uniquely, this intricate sandpainting was preserved with the agreement of the painter who omitted a small number of features so that it remains incomplete. Upon completion, the design must be destroyed as part of the ritual.

In 1985, Nathan Jackson, of the Tlingit people of Alaska, carved and presented the museum with a 25ft totem pole. The totem can be seen near the museum’s main entrance overlooking London Road.

More details of American collections

As home to Britain’s most comprehensive collection of musical instruments, the Horniman has an impressive selection of historic European instruments in its interactive Music Gallery. Highlights include a German baroque lute (c.1740) made by J.S.Hoffman - a contemporary of J.S. Bach in Leipzig - and the first ever British-made French Horn made by William Bull, London, 1699. There is also an extensive collection of concertinas on display illustrating the evolution in design of this unique instrument. Other instruments from Europe include examples of the distinctive Serpentine. Invented in France around 1590, the Serpentine is a bass member on the coronet family that was used in English churches in the 17th century and later featured in military bands. There is also a Hofner Bass on display in tribute to its worldwide popularity. This hollow body ‘Violin Bass’ electric guitar was first produced in 1956 by the German firm Hofner and is reminiscent of the double bass, the instrument it was designed to supplant. The popularity of the Hofner 500/1 was also due to it being the preferred model of choice for Sir Paul McCartney who still plays the instrument to this day. Visitors can also marvel at the recently renovated Apostle Clock that was made in the Black Forest in the mid-nineteenth century. Cased in Walnut, the clock depicts scenes from Jesus’ life and features the Apostles passing in front of Christ. Each Apostle bows until it comes to Judas’ turn, who turns away from him. Finally, the Spanish Torture Chair – once thought to have been used during the Spanish Inquisition but is now considered to be partly fake – has captured the curiosity of visitors for decades in the Centenary Gallery. Founder Frederick Horniman was also an avid collector of European folk art and examples on display in the Centenary Gallery include a selection of tradesman figures, ‘ugly’ masks from the border region of the Tyrol, animal masks from Poland and Punch and Judy puppets from England.

More details of pan-European collections

The Horniman's collection of material relating to travelling communities in Europe is very small - just a few objects from the Saami (or Laplanders).

However, there are extensive collections relating to nomadic peoples in Asia - especially Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Krygyzstan, Iran, Turkey and Tibet. See other entries on this page for further details.

The Horniman’s Centenary Gallery houses a number of objects from the Pacific region including a fine display of Papua New Guinean ceremonial gope boards, bark belts and ancestral figures. There are also finely decorated ceremonial paddles from the Solomon Isles and Maori treasure boxes from New Zealand.

More details of Pacific collections

The Maori collection consists of more than 100 objects. Key among the objects are jade Tikis made of greenstone, greenstone adzes, Maori fish hooks, painted paddles and carved wooden boxes for feathers. The collection also includes lintels and other carved wooden parts of a Maori meeting house, woven dresses, cloaks, war clubs, tattooing instruments, poi balls and bullroarers. (Bullroarers are a kind of musical instrument used in sacred ceremonies.)

Some of the early collections were acquired from Oldham whilst successive curators who were employed by the museum augmented the rest.

Shamanism

The Horniman holds a number of objects relating to Shamanism in Central Asia.

Shamanistic material culture consists of monuments such as sacred mountains and trees, costume and musical instruments. The Horniman collection contains two drums: one from Buriat Mongolia, the other from Tibet; a shaman's figure from Altai; a wooden ladle for the milk offering from Mongolia; and a number of amulets and talismans from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey. Some of the paintings in the Mongolian collection depict shamanic themes; the journey in the sky and combat with dragons, taming animals and herding deities. Given the preoccupation with animals in shamanic beliefs it is possible that some of the examples of Animal Style art are also of relevance: the 'hungry-monster' tao-teih motif in Tibetan prayer wheels, the ibex on a Mongolian dish, and the birds on Turkomen earrings - vestigial survivals.

Under Communist regimes in the USSR and Mongolia, shamanism was savagely repressed. It is now reviving in Mongolia, but its material culture there remains unobtrusive compared with earlier material from Tuva and Siberia.

Many people think that Shamanism was the original religion of mankind, which first developed in the Palaeolithic or Stone Age, perhaps in North East Asia. Others see it not as a coherent system of beliefs, but as having developed from folk beliefs following the spread of more formalised religions.

This is an extract from Ken Teague’s book Nomads describing the nomadic holdings of the Horniman Museum.

The Museum holds a number of examples of Inner Asian Buddhist Art and religious apparatus: including thankas and figurative art, particularly from Tibet and Mongolia.

Visitors can see a beautiful shofar made from a ram’s horn in the Music Gallery. The shofar is used in Jewish worship on days associated with repentance and is always played at the New Year, Rosh haShanah.