ITEM #:
2645
ETHNICITY:
Mambila
ORIGIN:
Cameroon
MEDIUM:
Wood, pigment, reed.
DIMENSIONS:
12″ tall (30.5 cm)
CONDITION:
Good.

PROVENANCE:
Private Estate Colelction – California, USA.

CATALOGUE NOTE:
This Mambila Tadep figure comes from eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon. It serves as an abode for ancestral spirits and is normally kept on a family altar at a ritual experts hut (suaga). The Mambila are peaceful agricultural peoples governed by their elders. They extensively celebrate planting and harvest seasons. The Mambila believed that their ancestral spirits could influence planting seasons and harvests and therefore lavishly pampered these figures with offerings and libations, which over the generations have formed several coats of encrustations.

Rare, aged and ritually used. Excellent specimen.