Standing female figure · Cameroon, Kaka · ID: 3034946
Sotheby’s New York, 16.11.2001, lot 98
Description
wood, greyish black patina, short arms, weirdly angled, with hook-shaped arranged hands, a disc-shaped flattened face with prominent eyes, slightly dam. (left breast and hand), cracks, paint rubbed off, socle;
the Kaka are a small ethnic group of around 18000 people, living in western Cameroon, along the Donga River. They are related with their southern Tikar neighbours and share certain customs with them. The present figure represents an ancestor effigy, for ancestor veneration has a place of prime importance for them. It is supervised by “wantop”, one of the members of the chieftains counsel, within the framework of the liturgies of the “mbir” male secret society. The objects are mostly covered with a thick patina of soot. As a rule they are male figures, the present figure exceptionally female.