Cameroon - Bamileke beaded statuette

Cameroon
Bamileke beaded statuette
Second half of the twentieth century
Accompanied by its certificate of authenticity

Dimensions: 59 x 18 cm / 3.10 kg
Wood beads
Optional base (contact us)

Colours and chieftaincies in African art. The Bamileke, a subgroup of a larger tribe of Bamoun and Tikar, are famous for their pearly African art sculptures, signs of prosperity and wealth, giving the royal object the brilliance that distinguishes common objects.

This stocky ancestral statuette was first carved in wood and then covered with a raban cloth encrusted with imported multicoloured pearls. The physiognomy displays a distinctive expressiveness of African tribal art from the Grassland regions.

Among Bamilekes as in other ethnic groups, the art objects testified to the place of their owner in the society. Thus, the materials and shapes of objects varied according to social status. The Bamileke king, also called Fon, who was responsible for soil fertility and the protection of his subjects, was not considered mortal. As a result, his funeral was a joyful celebration, the retreat being simply physical while he was still watching over his people from his new home.