Bamileke, Cameroon Grasslands: a female figure for healing the sick, called ‘mu’po’, from the west of the Cameroon Grasslands.
Bamileke, Cameroon Grasslands: a female figure for healing the sick, called ‘mu’po’, from the west of the Cameroon Grasslands.
A so-called ‘mu’po’ figure from the area around the town of Batie, in the west of the grasslands of northwest Cameroon. Most of the ‘mu’po’ figures are assigned to the Bamileke, but the Bangwa and Bafo also have very similar medicinal figures. ‘Mu’po’ figures assist healers and sooth-sayers in healing illnesses, as well as for medicinal and other forecasts. They are recognisable by the formal over-emphasis of their mostly ball-shaped round abdomens.
The present female ‘mu’po’ figure is carved from hard, heavy wood and – with the exception of her forehead area – coloured black-brown. A hairstyle is sketched through small notches. She has a flat, round face with white accentuated coffee bean eyes, a short, broad nose and a protruding, open mouth. Both arms are bent and the hands rest under the chin. Both legs are bent and the feet are broken off at the front (old breaks). A minor, old crack to the head at the back. A piece with very good, partially shiny usage patina.
Height: 27 cm. First half of the 20th century. (ME)
Provenance: Austrian private collection.
Specialist: Erwin Melchardt
Erwin Melchardt
+43-1-515 60-465
erwin.melchardt@dorotheum.at
06.04.2017 - 15:00
- Realized price: **
-
EUR 875.-
- Starting bid:
-
EUR 500.-
Bamileke, Cameroon Grasslands: a female figure for healing the sick, called ‘mu’po’, from the west of the Cameroon Grasslands.
A so-called ‘mu’po’ figure from the area around the town of Batie, in the west of the grasslands of northwest Cameroon. Most of the ‘mu’po’ figures are assigned to the Bamileke, but the Bangwa and Bafo also have very similar medicinal figures. ‘Mu’po’ figures assist healers and sooth-sayers in healing illnesses, as well as for medicinal and other forecasts. They are recognisable by the formal over-emphasis of their mostly ball-shaped round abdomens.
The present female ‘mu’po’ figure is carved from hard, heavy wood and – with the exception of her forehead area – coloured black-brown. A hairstyle is sketched through small notches. She has a flat, round face with white accentuated coffee bean eyes, a short, broad nose and a protruding, open mouth. Both arms are bent and the hands rest under the chin. Both legs are bent and the feet are broken off at the front (old breaks). A minor, old crack to the head at the back. A piece with very good, partially shiny usage patina.
Height: 27 cm. First half of the 20th century. (ME)
Provenance: Austrian private collection.
Specialist: Erwin Melchardt
Erwin Melchardt
+43-1-515 60-465
erwin.melchardt@dorotheum.at
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| Auction: | Tribal Art |
| Auction type: | Saleroom auction |
| Date: | 06.04.2017 - 15:00 |
| Location: | Vienna | Palais Dorotheum |
| Exhibition: | 01.04. - 06.04.2017 |
** Purchase price incl. buyer's premium and VAT
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