Wum Mask, Bafum Region, Western Grassfields, Cameroon

mabwo
height 15in (37.5cm)

Provenance
French Private Collection
Michael Oliver, New York
Leon Meizlik Collection, Westchester, New York

Tamara Northern comments on a similar mask, formerly in the Valerie Franklin Collection and later in the Myron Kunin Collection, "This mask with prestige cap represents a Fon or title holder and as such symbolizes authority. It was probably a part of a lineage mask group.

The particular sculpted concept of overemphasizing the profile of the mask in relation to it breadth and height was unique to northwest kingdoms of Bafum, Fungom, and Esu." (The Art of Cameroon, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1984, p. 160, fig. 92)

Intricately carved with a deeply hollowed interior, everything about this mask speaks with exaggeration--the large, protruding spherical eyes; the profound arching nose; the pronounced rounded cheeks; and the wide open mouth revealing upper and lower teeth. The prestige cap carved with concentric circular design; black, heavily encrusted patina with kaolin highlights on cap.