Face mask of the "kungan" - society ·  Cameroon Grassfields, Bamileke · ID: 3037798

Description

wood, strongly encrusted brown patina, prominent vertical forehead ridge and arching brows, big projecting ears, pierced eyes, slightly dam., minor missing parts (right eye, left ear), indigenous repair: vertical fissures on the right face half fixed by metal clamps, traces of insect caused damage backside at the rim, metal base;
masks from the Bamileke area were not worn on the head like masks from the eastern and northern Grassfield region, but rather in front of the face, just like the present mask which presumably belonged to the most important Bamileke secret society called “kungan”.

Comparing literature

Homberger, Lorenz (Hg.), Kamerun, Kunst der Könige, Zürich 2008, p. 180, ill. 69