Rare figural object of highly abstract form ·  Cameroon, Kaka · ID: 3040661

Description

wood, blackish brown patina, encrusted in some areas, anthropomorphic head with drilled eye holes and a broad grinning mouth, rising from the body of a bird(?) with projecting wings and broad tail feathers, drilled hole in the neck, opening in the body, incised ornaments, sacrificial mass on the forehead, slightly dam., cracks, abrasion, base;
the Kaka live south of the Donga River in the Grassfields of Cameroon. Their neighbours are the Mambila, who, however live in Nigeria. The Kaka’s figures all distinguish themelves by a very individual style some of them of an expressive character, some of an unusual fragmentation of the body shapes. The objects are mostly covered with a thick patina of soot.