Magnificent helmet-shaped bird mask (rooster) · Cameroon, Western Grassfields, Wum · ID: 3049669
sold
EUR 6,000
Provenance
Acquired from dealer in Foumban-Cameroon (1976)Rolf & Christina Miehler, Munich, Germany
Stefan Herzog, Munich, Germany
Hans Brockmann, Munich, Germany
Size
H: 24 cm
L: 65 cm
H: 9.4 inch
L: 25.6 inch
Description
wood, patina heavily encrusted in places, base
A stylistically comparable mask is published by Northern (1984, p. 159, fig. 90) in a photograph.
According to this, the bird mask was worn with a dramatic feather robe and sat atop the head of the wearer, whose face was concealed by a fiber covering.
However, the photograph was not taken in the field. The complete mask with mannequin was acquired by the Field Museum of Natural History Chicago from the Umlauff Collection, and photographed as it appeared in the Umauff sales catalogue of the early 1920’s.
Comparing literature
Northern, Tamara, The Art of Cameroon, Washington D.C. 1984, p. 159, ill. 90
Publications
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Lexikon Afrikanische Kunst und Kultur, München, Berlin 1994, p. 211; Privatsammlung Rolf and Christina Miehler, München 2007 (appendix)AHDRC: 0011780