Small male power figure "mu po" · Cameroon Grassfields, Bamileke · ID: 3034168
not available anymore
Provenance
Maurice W. Shapiro, New York, USAChristie’s New York, 11 November 1993, lot 104
Vera und Wolfgang Nerlich, Munich, Germany
Size
H: 13,5 cm
H: 5.3 inch
Description
wood, encrusted blackish brown patina, cord, rectangular deepening in the back with remains of magical loading, slightly dam., minor missing parts (surface structure of the face, foot tips), 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 back 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.
Comparing literature
von Lintig, Bettina, Cameroun, Paris 2006, p. 78