Mask Bamileke Nkouga

This enigmatic and impenetrable mask-mask features a singular profusion of ornamentation. From the prominent headdress, made up of long braids of black hair designed to cover the dancer's body, emerges the face, adorned all over with cowrie shells, except for the openings covered with red fabric signifying the eyes and mouth.

Yégué Bamileke dance mask, Cameroon Wood, cowries, fabric and hair H. 70.5cm Bibliography : Rois et sculpteurs de l'Ouest Cameroun: la panthère et la mygale. 1900, La symbolique des arts Bamileke (Ouest Cameroun) : approche historique et anthropologique, This enigmatic and impenetrable mask-mask features a singular profusion of ornamentation. From the prominent headdress, made up of long braids of black hair designed to cover the dancer's body, emerges the face, adorned all over with cowrie shells, except for the openings covered with red fabric signifying the eyes and mouth. The number of horns, irregularly erected, indicates the rank of its owner. Jean-Paul Notué and Louis Perrois attribute this rare mask to the Ku'ngang magico-religious initiation society, affiliated with certain Bamileke chiefdoms in western Cameroon. This brotherhood worships the Supreme Being, called Si, and is involved in agrarian cults through the intermediary of various water and field deities. The authors go on to explain that "the power of the Ku'ngang comes above all from the fact that the brotherhood is a bridge between the world of the living and that of the dead, between the visible and the invisible, the cosmic world and the world of man." Accompanied by a host of other ritual accessories - fetish bags, statuettes and horns, as well as bells and drums - this mask was used for the ceremonial ku' dance, reserved for initiates.