King Mishe
Ndop Portrait of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul, c. 1760-80, wood and camwood powder, 19-1/2 x 7-5/8 x 8-5/8″ (Brooklyn Museum)
The second blog post that I am going to be talking about is about a portrait, of king Mishe miShyaang maMbul, carved out of wood. Artists in all different cultures create these remarkable pieces to honor these leaders. King Mishe was well known for his great generosity and his numerous loyal subjects. The king’s people even dedicated a “praise song” for him in his honor. The specific piece above is the idealized portrait-statue that he named an ndop. This specific ndop was purchased by the Brooklyn museum in 1961. At first, the ndop was founded in 1909 by colonial minister in which then was known as Belgian Congo. So why do we know who Alexander the great was but not King Mishe? This is because the Kuba peoples and their descendents didn’t use typical written records like other colonies. These individuals believed that oral narrative was the primary way for history and personal histories to be passed down from one generation to the next. This is really cool but it poses many different issues. As the histories were passed down many different things were changed from the original story. It was honestly just a big game of telephone, with the words constantly changing the only true thing that was still original was the spirit of the original message. It is very important that when we see sculputures like the ndop, that we keep in mind this is original insight into what was truly going on. The sculptures are some of the only things that weren’t changed through history due to oral record keeping.
The word ndop literally means “Statue.” These statues may be the most referred to pieces of art of all Kuba forms of art. The ndop above is not the only one made, in fact, there are seven other statues almost identical. The only real difference in between them is the different color of the wood they used. Other than the color they are nearly identical. Like I stated above, the ndop plays a very vital role in interpreting the stories that were orally passed down within this ethnic group.
Ndop, wooden carving of King Shyaam aMbul aNgoong, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), late 18th century, wood, 55 cm high (British Museum)
Smart history link: https://smarthistory.org/ndop-portrait-of-king-mishe-mishyaang-mambul-kuba-people/
Arnold, Roger D., and Roger D. Arnold. “Ndop Portrait of King Mishe MiShyaang MaMbul (Kuba Peoples).” Smarthistory, smarthistory.org/ndop-portrait-of-king-mishe-mishyaang-mambul-kuba-people/.
Hey Justin,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great post. How incredible what can be made out of such a simple material like wood. It's truly interesting that artists from all over would create these pieces to honor these leaders. It's always nice to read about a leader who his people truly liked instead of feared. I liked your comparison of the passing down of the story to a game of telephone. It feels like we're even playing a game of telephone with our blog posts, except with paraphrasing. Well done.
Hi Justin!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post about the ndop of King Mishe MiShyaang MaMbul. Something that I think worked out well in your post was how you described the characteristics of storytelling in their culture and how that it is different from other cultures. What was the significance about mentioning Alexander the Great in this context?
-Autumn Fink