Standing female figure "kambei"
Description
wood, polished black patina, mirror glass, beaded loincloth, neck rings, carved with (military-)boots, rest. (headgear), crack backside, slight traces of abrasion, wooden socle;
ethnical groups in the region of Southern Sierra Leone encountered Western influence early in the colonial era. Western garments were often adopted as symbols of power and authority, just like the military boots in present case.
Among the earliest figures collected in Sierra Leone are a group acquired before 1900 by the British colonial officer T. J. Alldridge and described in his book “The Sherbro and its Hinterland” (1901). Alldridge also mentions a Sherbro association identified as “yassi”, whose principal function was curing physical and mental disorders. The figures the society used are called “minsereh”. As a result of this single source, virtually all figures from the region have subsequently been called “minsereh” and associated with “yassi”. At the same time, however, they are usually attributed to the Mende, whose language is unrelated to that of the Sherbro and who do not use either the term “yassi” or “minsereh”.
The Mende, however, do have an association, the “njayei”, that is very similar to the “yassi” society, and this association keeps pairs of figures, male and female, known as “lomba” and “kambei” respectively. Such figures are said to represent both deceased members of the association and, in some sense, the associations ancestral spirits, possibly the original founders of the local chapter. This research approach was found by W. A. Hart and is exposed in his essay “Sculptures of the Njayei Society…” (1993).