Beaded Head With Leopard Mount - Tribal Art
This enthralling beaded head is covered with elegant cylindrical black beads. Smaller red and black beads are expertly used to enhance the beauty of the head with finer details such as the exquisitely designed red lizard motif in its neck. The gorgeously detailed leopard on top is seemingly bursting from the back of the head. The leopard itself is finely adorned with a diamond pattern of small white beads and long red and black beads.
Dimensions approx. 35 x 21 x 25 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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