Royal beaded palm wine container ·  Cameroon, Bali · ID: 3039568

Description

gourd rising from ring-shaped base, covered with raffia cloth, stitched with strings of miniature glass beads forming various patterns: “spider motif”, rhombs and triangles, wooden stopper with globular handle from cowrie shells, good condition;
beautiful object regarding form and selection of colours, the beads show three different shades of blue, white and green. They are of European manufacture, including Venetian.
Royal wine containers were the privilege of the Fon and as such were kept in the royal treasury for use on ceremonial occasions. Some sources say that they contained the bones of ancestors, others that they were wine containers, while yet other accounts claim the vessels to be essentially decorative objects placed near the throne of the king. All three identifications may be true to varying degrees. Certainly they were statements of the Fon’s wealth and authority.

Comparing literature

Pemberton, John, African Beaded Art, Power and Adornment, Northhampton 2008, p. 112, ill. 50 Kahan, Leonard et .al., A Cameroon World, New York 2007, p. 126, ill. 70