ELEPHANT MASK - Bamileke culture, Cameroon - First half of the 20th century

ELEPHANT MASK

Bamileke culture, Cameroon

First half of the 20th century

Cloth, pearls and vegetable fibers

H.: 61; L.: 57 cm

(old misses)

Hood mask in red fabric lined with fibers whose long front panel refers to the trunk of the elephant and the circular side discs, to its large ears.

It has a beaded decoration embroidered in a geometric way for the ears and in scales or drops for the front.

The mask is also openworked with two circles surrounded by felt sausages, an almond-shaped mouth circled in the same way and lined with white teeth made of glass beads. A cylindrical nose completes this anthropomorphic appearance.

These characteristic masks appeared in the Kuosi society – a regulatory society, composed mainly of chiefs, high-ranking warriors and agents.

With their rich beaded ornamentation, these masks bear witness to royalty and wealth. The colors and shapes used respond to a particular code: red symbolizes life, women and royalty, black the link between the world of the living and that of the dead and white to the ancestors; the triangles refer to the dress of the royal feline: the leopard.

Text and photos © FCP CORIDON

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