Beaded Helmet Mask Representing Queen Mother - Tribal Art
This beaded mask representing a queen is decorated with a pallet of blue, cyan and white beads that is broken up by sparingly used red details. The face is covered in long dark blue beads and is gorgeously adorned with cyan details on the ears, eyebrows and nostrils. The wooden core of the mask is visible as a finely carved set of teeth in the mouth. White beads form a gorgeous crown that is decorated with blue beads in a pattern of lines that centre around four circles. The top of the mask contains a hole which is lined with red and cyan beads in a striking chevron pattern.
Dimensions approx. 30 x 23 x 23 cm
Beaded art from the Cameroon Grasslands collected between 1985 and 2005. Rulers throughout the many Kingdoms in the Cameroon Grassland region (Bamileke –Bamum -Tikar) employed a range of Regalia to assert their political, economic and religious power. Presented publicly in lavish displays of wealth and power, many court objects were distinguished by their elaborate bead embroidery. Imported from Venice, Bohemia or Amsterdam, glass beads were considered a luxury material whose use and distribution were controlled by the King. The decoration of objects with vast quantities of brilliantly colored beads transformed utilitarian objects into symbols of royal status and prestige.
All lots are in the state the collector acquire them. No restorations or cleaning has been performed.
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