Tribal Art

The court art of the chiefdoms of north-west Cameroon is illustrated by prestigious objects such as thrones, statues, beds, ceremonial pipes, box poles.... The style of these sculpted frames is representative of the productions of the peripheral groups, in this case the Mambila. The stylized anthropomorphic, almost geometric motifs are repeated vertically and make up a symbolic language known to the initiates of secret societies abounding throughout the region.
Despite their small number, the thirty thousand Mambila (or Mambilla, Mambere, Nor, Torbi, Lagubi, Tagbo, Tongbo, Bang, Ble, Juli, Bea) (the men, in fulani), installed in the north-west of Cameroon, have created a large number of masks and statues easily identifiable by their heart-shaped faces. Although the Mambila believe in a creative god named Chang or Nama, they only worship their ancestors. Like wheat, their leaders were buried in attics because they were supposed to symbolize prosperity. Masks and statues were not to be seen by women.
Patine clear, dull, abraded. Slight erosion on the lower end of one of the pillars.