Throne seat
Cameroon, Grassfields, northwest region
Babanki Tungo or Bali Nyong kingdoms. Late 19th - early 20th century
Wood
Gift of the missionary pastor Jean Rusillon in 1976; collected in the 1930s
MEG Inv. ETHAF 038944
Notice
This open-worked seat is decorated with a ring of small carved heads wearing the conical headdresses of high-ranking dignitaries. The undulating forms separating them represent the python, a symbol of growth and renewal. Imagery recalling the kingdom's ancestors thus decorates this stool, a metaphor of power and a commemorative object at the death of a king.
Bibliography
- Lecoq, R.. 1953. Les Bamiléké. Paris :, p. 163
- Wastiau, Boris. 2008. Medusa en Afrique. La sculpture de l’enchantement. Genève : MEG ; Milan : 5 Continents Editions., 170, MEG ET AF 4614
© 2015 Musée d'ethnographie, Genève
Ville de Genève, Département de la culture et du sport