Mask of a leader "kam"
Cameroon Grassfields, Bamileke / Babanki
not available anymore
Provenance
Jean Pierre Diane (1967)Ernst and Ruth Anspach, New York, USA
Sotheby’s New York, May 15, 2003, lot 113
Merton Simpson, New York, USA
Mark Eglinton, New York, USA
Size
H: 39 cm
H: 15.4 inch
Description
wood, pigment remains, collection number “1015” in white paint on the interior
“Kam” (“nkam” or “akam”) is the leader of a so-called “juju” group of dancers, who perform at death celebrations and at festivities in honour of the ancestors. As the principal mask of the “juju”, which carries additional medicines and controls the other masks, its importance was occasionally compared to the position of the head of the family.