African Arts Gallery

Bamileke mask (N° 22597)

This copy is a miniature replica of the great royal mask whose very particular structure forms a face with a horizontal nose with large dilated nostrils and a high flat forehead evoking the back of a seat.
The circular base is surmounted by a mouth revealing a row of regular teeth.

Matte reddish brown patina. Abrasions.

The first African mask of this type having been discovered at Batcham in the Grasslands of Cameroon, this sacred African mask was erroneously called Batcham within tribal art. Several chiefdoms had these important masks which made up the royal treasury. Only one copy was used, however. He was linked to the activities of the secret society called msop or tsemabu depending on the region, and to which the king, also called fon, also belonged. The Fon was responsible for the fertility of the soil and the protection of his subjects; it was not considered lethal.