Standing male ancestor figure "tadep" · Cameroon, Mambila · ID: 3046841
Private Collection, Belgium (1968-2014)
Native, Brussels, 25 January 2014
Richard E. Ulevitch, La Jolla, USA
Bruce Frank, New York, USA
Description
wood, missing parts (insect caused damage), rest., custom mount
Figures like this were commonly described as ancestor representations or guardian figures. Rather, it would appear to be a ritual object connected with a healing association called “suàgà”.
The local name of such sculptures would be “tadep”. Usually these were male-female pairs. Together with other “suàgà” paraphernalia, they were stored in granaries.
The object Standing male ancestor figure “tadep” with the object ID 3046841 was last part of the auction Voyage Tribal Art - Live Online Auction at May 23, 2020 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 200.
You can find more Figures and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.
Publications
AHDRC: 0135249