BAMILEKE ELEPHANT MASK 15, Cameroon
Photographs © Tim Hamill
BAMILEKE, BEADED ELEPHANT MASK 15, 43", $1200, SOLD
These masks, with beads carefully embroidered onto cloth take
the form of an important royal icon, the elephant, with its long trunk and
large ears. The patterns on the front and back panels suggest another royal
icon, the leopard. The display of wearing these richly embellished masks
and other regalia at court ceremonies was the best evidence of the wealth
of a Bamileke kingdom.
Some of the old masks have lost beads, others, including the
newer no. 6 are all intact. These were photographed on a temporary stand;
mounted permanently, the sagging ears can be braced up to look more like
no. 6. Only No. 4 has basketry inside the top. The color is most accurate
in the closeups and enlargements. The light beads are all white, not light
blue, for example.
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