African Bronze

Hi All, I would love to know more about this African bronze head if anyone can help me? I bought it off a woman who inherited it from her in-laws who apparently brought it back to the UK from West Africa in the 30s or 40s. It doesn't look like a traditional style to me? But I know very little! Thanks a lot, Calum

 

Maybe a more recent take on a Bamun mask? The examples I can find are a lot flatter

 

Bamum masks are wood, aren't they?
Maybe it is more along the lines of an Indian decorative mask, like the one below. Let's ask @2manybooks .

 

Thanks Any Jewellery, it does look a lot like your photo, especially the eyebrows. Usually wood I think but I have seen some bronze masks attributed to the Bamun people

 

The style is consistent with masks from the northeastern region of Cameroon known as the "Grasslands". Several ethnic groups there share artistic styles, and it is often difficult to distinguish between them, the Bamum/Bamun and Bamileke being predominate. This type of brass/bronze mask is larger than those used as "hip masks", and I cannot find information as to how, or if, they were used in the originating culture or if they were made for sale. They essentially copy forms made in wood.

The wooden masks are "usually worn during state ceremonies such as the funeral of an important dignitary, or during annual festivities", and often take the form of "helmet masks", which are worn on top of the head rather than over the face. Among the types of coiffures represented in the wooden masks is a type of openwork with spider motifs, "symbolizing ancestral wisdom".
Bacquart, Jean-Baptiste: The Tribal Arts of Africa. Thames & Hudson, 1998.

Here are 2 brass/bronze masks from the American Museum of Natural History, but they have little information on their history or use:

https://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/databases/common/image_dup.cfm?catno=90.1/ 7488


https://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/databases/common/image_dup.cfm?catno=90.2/ 5007

 

Thanks so much again 2manybooks! I really feel in your debt for all of the help you've given me.

The first picture has the same sharpened? teeth, when I googled I couldn't find any others like this.

I will do some more reading using the info you've provided

 

@Any Jewelry - for most of the day, the picture you posted would not load so I had not seen it. It does look strangely similar, and I might have assumed it was from Cameroon. Do you have a link/reference for it?

 

It is from Indian Shelf, which is a bit like Indiamart.
https://www.indianshelf.com/bronze-man-face-mask-wall-hanging/

I think it is based on the brass masks worn in the magico-Shamanic Bhuta ritual from southern India.
https://www.asianart.com/exhibitions/bhuta/index.html

 

I don't know if you saw this recent post under Metalware - https://www.antiquers.com/threads/help-identifying-indian-mask.62559/#post-4138236

I feel like I am going in circles. Clearly some cross connections with the Cameroonians. But I think the mustache is the distinguishing feature - rarely (if ever) seen in Cameroon, but favored in S. India.

 

Thanks, I hadn't seen it. Interesting how we have two threads where the Bhuta ritual is mentioned, which is a pretty rare thing.

Yes, it is tricky. But I agree, this one is more likely to be Cameroon.

 

Its remarkable how similar the Indian masks are to the Cameroonian masks. I guess one culture must have been influenced by the other somehow?

 

I can't imagine how. The thing is, we are all human beings with a human mind and creativity, which means it is possible to find similar designs in unrelated places.

 

I doubt that there is actually a connection, just a coincidence. There are only so many ways to represent a human face.

 

Yeah i guess so. Or.. both cultures were contacted by the same aliens who taught them how to make masks?!