Early 20th C. Mambila Painted Wood Male Tadep Figure

Central Africa, Cameroon, Mambila peoples, ca. early 20th century CE. An intriguing male ancestor guardian figure known as a "tadep," hand-carved from lightweight wood, standing atop broad feet. The knobby knees are set below a bulbous lower body and an incised waist, and the portly abdomen tapers upward to planar shoulders and sinuous arms curved against the chest. The wide, rounded head is defined by protruding circular eyes, a petite nose, puffy lips flanked by dramatic cheek contours, and incised ears, all beneath a tall forehead and a smooth coiffure. Rings of applied orange-red and white pigment encircle the entire figure, and swaths of deep black pigment delineate the spine, waist line, and hair. Size: 3" W x 8.5" H (7.6 cm x 21.6 cm); 9.875" H (25.1 cm) on included custom stand.

The Mambila peoples create highly-stylized tadep figures for the main purpose of honoring their deceased ancestors, though they also serve a protective function as well. Tadep are carved from light-weight wood so they can be used for a variety of functions such as protecting a personal dwelling from evil spirits, facilitating fertility based on their overall phallic form, or to represent a benevolent spirit of healing. They are also hung above doorways into shelters meant to store other ceremonial and spiritual objects.

For a stylistically-similar example, please see The Brooklyn Museum, accession number 73.9.1: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4824

Provenance: private Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania, USA collection; ex-private San Francisco, California, USA collection; ex-Richard Ulevitch collection, La Jolla, California, USA; ex-Pierre Darteville collection, Brussels, Belgium; ex-private old German collection

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#144557
Condition Report: Small chips to face, body, and legs, with light fading to original pigmentation, a few stable fissures, and light encrustations within some recessed areas, otherwise intact and excellent. Light earthen deposits, great traces of original pigmentation, and fine patina throughout.