The wandering « Leg of an Indian King ». The cultural biography of a friction idiophone now in the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy

The article presents new data on the history of a Mesoamerican musical instrument, which is a notched human bone used as a friction idiophone, today, held at the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy, where it is recorded as MNPE n. 4209. The documentary data allow for the reconstruction of the instrument’...

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Main Author: Davide Domenici
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Société des américanistes 2016-10-01
Series:Journal de la Société des Américanistes
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/14626
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author Davide Domenici
author_facet Davide Domenici
author_sort Davide Domenici
collection DOAJ
description The article presents new data on the history of a Mesoamerican musical instrument, which is a notched human bone used as a friction idiophone, today, held at the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy, where it is recorded as MNPE n. 4209. The documentary data allow for the reconstruction of the instrument’s cultural biography along a time span of almost five centuries. Collected in the Mixtec Kingdom of Tututepec (Oaxaca, Mexico) during the 16th century, it passed through different Italian collections before reaching its present location in Rome toward the end of the 19th century. The text also analyzes how in its long historical journey through different contexts and regimes of value, the notched bone generated diverse sets of discourses on cultural otherness. It is argued that this discursive agency of the object is due to its enduring coevalness, a quality that allows ancient objects to be always contemporary and meaningful to different cultural audiences.
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spelling doaj-art-9a135aea3ca94966a7182ec12ec674d62025-02-05T15:54:04ZengSociété des américanistesJournal de la Société des Américanistes0037-91741957-78422016-10-0110217910410.4000/jsa.14626The wandering « Leg of an Indian King ». The cultural biography of a friction idiophone now in the Pigorini Museum in Rome, ItalyDavide DomeniciThe article presents new data on the history of a Mesoamerican musical instrument, which is a notched human bone used as a friction idiophone, today, held at the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy, where it is recorded as MNPE n. 4209. The documentary data allow for the reconstruction of the instrument’s cultural biography along a time span of almost five centuries. Collected in the Mixtec Kingdom of Tututepec (Oaxaca, Mexico) during the 16th century, it passed through different Italian collections before reaching its present location in Rome toward the end of the 19th century. The text also analyzes how in its long historical journey through different contexts and regimes of value, the notched bone generated diverse sets of discourses on cultural otherness. It is argued that this discursive agency of the object is due to its enduring coevalness, a quality that allows ancient objects to be always contemporary and meaningful to different cultural audiences.https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/14626omichicahuaztliTututepecFlavio ChigiProspero LambertiniPigorini Museum
spellingShingle Davide Domenici
The wandering « Leg of an Indian King ». The cultural biography of a friction idiophone now in the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy
Journal de la Société des Américanistes
omichicahuaztli
Tututepec
Flavio Chigi
Prospero Lambertini
Pigorini Museum
title The wandering « Leg of an Indian King ». The cultural biography of a friction idiophone now in the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy
title_full The wandering « Leg of an Indian King ». The cultural biography of a friction idiophone now in the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy
title_fullStr The wandering « Leg of an Indian King ». The cultural biography of a friction idiophone now in the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy
title_full_unstemmed The wandering « Leg of an Indian King ». The cultural biography of a friction idiophone now in the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy
title_short The wandering « Leg of an Indian King ». The cultural biography of a friction idiophone now in the Pigorini Museum in Rome, Italy
title_sort wandering leg of an indian king the cultural biography of a friction idiophone now in the pigorini museum in rome italy
topic omichicahuaztli
Tututepec
Flavio Chigi
Prospero Lambertini
Pigorini Museum
url https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/14626
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