Small janiform power figure "mu po" ·  Cameroon Grassfields, Bamileke · ID: 3040627

Description

wood, black patina, partly encrusted, male and female, standing back to back, identical formed, small deepening on one side, slightly dam., base;
Bamileke healers and soothsayers used such small wooden statuettes to represent their patients, who would be treated at a distance. Sometimes the statuettes have a cavity in the body into which magical substances would be placed and the cavity closed with a band of leather or cloth. Some of them would be carried by mask-wearing members of the “kungan” society during their big rituals.