A brass-clad mask with its heavy fibre dance garment, from the Bamessing chiefdom on the Ndop plain in the grasslands of Cameroon. The collection catalogue lists it as one of two masks with dance garments from this chiefdom.

1. The Mask

Face and cap are covered in brass sheet. The domed cap carries a border of studs and a field of worked tendril patterns, and the arched brow is set off by a finely engraved line. The eyes are large and bulging, each with a copper-coloured stud at its centre. The cheeks are covered in a close lattice of fine hatching, the nostrils are heavy and rounded, and the open, smiling mouth shows a row of teeth. Two large pointed ears curve outwards on either side.

2. The Garment

The mask is worn with a coarse woven garment that is thickly hung with attachments of many kinds: small pieces of wood, flat dark pendants, shell-like forms and feathers. According to the collection catalogue, such garments are full of amulets, gris-gris, magical objects and substances, all meant to ward off the evil influences, spirits and demons that are thought to be everywhere.

3. The Chiefdom

Bamessing lies on the fertile Ndop plain, in the English-speaking part of the grasslands. Its ancestors left the Bamum heartland of the Sultanate of Foumban to escape the sultan's rule. The prosperity of the plain, the catalogue notes, shaped the chiefdom's cult life and its objects; its carvers, working in the chief's service, were widely known. Brass plating of wooden masks is typical of the region.

Summary

A brass-clad mask and ritual dance garment from one of the most important chiefdoms of the Ndop plain.