Small male power figure "mu po" · Cameroon Grassfields, Bamileke · ID: 3034168
Christie’s New York, 11 November 1993, lot 104
Vera und Wolfgang Nerlich, Munich, Germany
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.
The object Small male power figure “mu po” with the object ID 3034168 was last part of the auction 72nd tribal art auction at March 9, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 109.
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Comparing literature
von Lintig, Bettina, Cameroun, Paris 2006, p. 78