a superb pearl-embellished royal head - Bamileke - Cameroon (No reserve price)

Beaded Bamileke royal head

From the regions known as the Cameroonian Grasslands, where chiefdoms surround themselves with beaded African art objects illustrating the wealth and prestige of royalty, this terracotta head is covered with thousands of multicolored beads, arranged in particularly vivid contrasting tones. This royal art comprises masks, statues and prestige objects to which the beads confer a definite glow.

Located in the Nigeria border region, the Northwest Province of Cameroon, the Grassland comprises several ethnic groups: Tikar, Anyang, Widekum, Chamba, Bamoun and Bamileke. Several centralized chiefdoms, or kingdoms, based on customary associations and secret societies, organize themselves around the Fon, who would possess broad supernatural powers including the ability to transform into animals such as the python, the elephant, the leopard, or the buffalo. As a religious leader, he is also a judge and a war chief. His position, however, entails numerous obligations that he had to fulfill in order not to be put to death.