28 - Masque de la société Ku n’gan, Bamileke, Cameroun

Masque de la société Ku n’gan, Bamileke, Cameroun 19th or early 20th century Wood, textiles, human teeth H. 32 cm Total height including textiles on the stand: 69 cm With a formidably unsettling presence, this rare mask from the Ku N’Gan society embodies, in the austere simplicity of its face and the exuberance of its adornments, the full symbolic power of the secret brotherhoods of Cameroon’s Grassfields. The Ku N’Gan is a society with religious, magical, agrarian, and sometimes warlike characteristics, widely attested in the Bamiléké chiefdoms of Western Cameroon. In Bapa, where its organization has been particularly well documented, it worshipped the Supreme Being as well as the powers associated with water and the fields. Its purpose was to ensure the fertility of the group and to combat evil forces. The society possessed a significant collection of ritual objects, including masks, statues, horns, herbs, and objects imbued with power. Carved from dense wood, the face is characterized by a broad, domed forehead, deep eye sockets with elongated eyes, a short, flattened nose, and a wide-open mouth revealing the teeth. The geometric simplification of the forms, the frontal orientation of the gaze, and the deliberate austerity of the modeling lend the piece an expression of austere gravity of striking intensity. Surrounding the face is an abundant array of fibers, hair, textiles, and ritual elements, whose dangling ornaments extend the silhouette and lend the piece an almost supernatural presence. Provenance - Collected in situ by Jan Sneep in the 1960s, where he also collected pipes - Belgian private collection Littérature Other comparable Ku N’Gan masks studied in: Pierre Harter, *Arts anciens du Cameroun*, Arnouville, *Arts d’Afrique Noire* series, 1986, esp. p. 262 and p. 329, pl. XIX Further Reading Jean-Paul Notué and Louis Perrois, “Contribution to the Study of Secret Societies among the Bamileke (Western Cameroon),” typescript report. Yaoundé, ISH / CREA / ORSTOM, 1984, 203 pp. | online: https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers11-10/19320.pdf Jean-Paul Notué, The Symbolism of Bamileke Arts (Western Cameroon): A Historical and Anthropological Approach, typescripted doctoral dissertation, supervised by Jean Devisse, University of Paris 1, 1988