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51. The Kingdoms of the Cameroon Grassfields

Kings as Artists and Art Patrons

Localiser les objets

To this day, richly decorated palaces are the heart of the Grassfields kingdoms and illustrated the power of their sovereigns.

This post comes from the palace of Babanki Tungo (also called the Kedjom Kitingu kingdom), east of Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest region of Cameroon. According to a description by the ethnologist Hans Himmelheber, it was one of the pillars in the palace reception room. A leopard, royal animal, is carved at the top, above five figures acting out the punishment for adultery. Under the musician, the man wearing the headdress of a dignitary is pointing his gun at the seducer seen from the side, while the king's adulterous wife rocks her child above the king himself, shown at the bottom of the column.

The kings commissioned artists to decorate their palaces and sometimes carved pieces themselves. This post is the work of Fontshue Aseh, an artist-king who ruled over Babanki Tungo from 1908 to 1918. His woodcarving workshop was famous throughout the region and even supplied the courts of the neighbouring kingdoms.

Christraud M. Geary

The king of Babanki Tungo (Der Häuptling von Babanki Tungo). Photographer unknown, circa 1930. Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, VIIIA 1104

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