Slit drum
- Audio guide stop: 172
- Gallery: Room 25
- Culture: Mahdiya
- Made in: South Sudan
- Date: 1850-1898 (circa)
- Object type: slit-drum
- Materials: wood (African coralwood)
- Museum number: Af1937,1108.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is a slit drum, a remarkable artifact from the Mahdiya culture in what is now South Sudan. Carved from a single piece of African coralwood, the drum is shaped like a short-horned buffalo, with a small head and tail and four short legs.
The body is hollowed out, with a narrow rectangular slit running across the top, allowing sound to emerge when struck. You’ll notice intricate Islamic-inspired motifs carved or incised along each side—one side in high relief and the other as a shallower carving. Near the tail, a carving of the British Crown was added, likely in 1898 as a political statement.
This drum was captured at a battle in Sudan and later presented to Queen Victoria. After years in Windsor Castle, it was donated to the British Museum in 1937 by King George VI.
See it in person
Slit drum is on display in Room 25 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 172, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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