Mambila mask, Cameroon - Lot 114

Mambila mask, Cameroon Coated with an inlaid crusty patina, this visually powerful anthropomorphic helmet mask is adorned with wooden studs representing hair and beard, like some Tadep statues. The concave face ends in a mouth with narrow lips coated in ochre-red vegetable pigment. These masks, worn on top of the head, were intended to remain hidden from women. 40 x 24 cm Mambila sculpture in African art A population of Bantu origin settled in southeastern Nigeria, but also in northwestern Cameroon, near the Mfunte (or Wuli) of the Grasslands, the Mambila ("the men" in Fulani), who earn their livelihood from farming and herding, produced statues embodying the ancestors, associated with fertility and prosperity, and mask-heaumes for ceremonies closing the sowing season. Village chiefs, surrounded by the Mimin association, were responsible for ensuring social peace. Mambila ritual objects, used by the many powerful initiation associations, also played a part in therapeutic rituals and helped protect against witchcraft supposedly transmitted by women.