Schweinfurth who travelled among the Mangbetu in the early 1870s reported that the Mangbetu had no stringed instruments of any kind so it may be that the distinctive harps, with necks carved as complete figures or heads, were all carved after the time of his visit. Some ethonlogists have claimed that the harp was introduced to the Mangbetu from the Azande to the north though linguistic evidence suggests that the influence was from the south, as the Mangbetu adopted the Bantu name, domu for the harp. Didier Demolin (African Reflections, 1990, p.198) suggests that the harps may have been of lesser importance to the Mangbetu as musical instruments than as art objects, as early photographs show Mangbetu women holding, but rarely playing, harps. The present example would appear to be unique in retaining its fibre apron and in having subtle resist-dyed horizontal lines on the body rather than the more usual carved or scorched lines seen on most published examples.