À propos du lot
n° 100
Titre : An Important Bangwa Commemorative Figure Of A King
Dimensions : height 41 3/8 in. 105cmProvenance : PROPERTY FROM A EUROPEAN COLLECTORCollected in the Bangwa area (Fontem) in 1965Literature : Monti, Plastik aus Schwartz Afrika, 1967: number 179Brain and Pollock, Bangwa Funerary Sculpture, 1971: 121, plate 57 and 119: figure 27Blixen, La Mia Africa, 1981: plate 14Carrieri, Fotografie:Scultura Africana, 1981: 20Harter, Arts Anciens du Cameroun, 1986: frontispiece, plate 1 and 315, plate 352Perrois and Notué, Roi et Sculpteurs de L'Ouest Cameroun: La panthère et , a mygale, 1997: figure XXIIINotes : Bangwa royal commemorative works are among the most renowned African works of art. Bangwa royal figures, or indeed large scale Cameroon figures, rarely come to auction. A related Bangwa commemorative queen figure, one of the most iconic African sculptures, formerly in the Helena Rubinstein and Harry Franklin collections and photographed by Man Ray was sold at Sotheby's New York, April 21, 1990, lot 127. Another important king figure, the male counterpart to the Rubinstein queen figure, and related to the offered lot, was sold in the same auction as lot 128. According to Northern, 'both [figures] were carved by the same artist, whose individual hand is apparent in the stylistic rendering of both figures, [and] they exemplify a Bangwa, and perhaps a Fontem, style...' (catalogue entry, Sotheby's New York, April 1990). Together with the offered figure, these works mark Fontem as a true artistic center in the Bangwa region. See also Sotheby's New York, November 18, 2000, lot 109, for a related large-scale, highly expressionistic, Cameroon figure carved in the nineteenth century, also for a royal treasury, but from the Eastern Bangwa area.A Bangwa commemorative portrait of Fotabong Nsheu, LefemThe Bangwa live in the highlands of Cameroon, bordering on the forest area that is the source of the Cross River, the Bamenda Mountains and, to the east, the volcanic plateau of the Bamileke. Cultural and artistic influences from the grasslands and the forest areas suggest that continuous cultural and economic exchange between groups took place in the past. This mixing is supported by the fact that the Bangwa region was an important center along the trade route to the west coast of Africa at the beginning of the 20th century.The cultural group known as the 'Bangwa' actually consisted of nine chiefdoms with their respective satellite groupings. All the chiefdoms had a similar internal hierarchical structure, as well as being subject to an over-arching political hierarchy of influence within the whole group. Lefem statues such as the offered lot had a variety of meanings for the Bangwa. Carvers and sculptors produced statues and masks commissioned by chiefs and members of secret societies. These ritual objects can be understood as significant to 'cultural memory' (Assman 1999:18). As such, certain rules of iconology had to be followed. The existence of formal guidelines makes the identification of object types possible.The offered Bangwa sculpture is the representation of a chief, Fotabong Nsheu, enthroned and bearing his chiefly-insignia: a parted knobbed headdress, beaded necklaces, bangles, a calabash, a pipe and leopard skin anklets. Lefem carvings of this type were considered living portraits of people of importance and high political standing within the quasi-feudal Bangwa society. Over time, ruling dynasties accumulated an 'ancestor gallery' of figures representing former chiefs, their sisters (who inherited the rank of chief when their brother was inaugurated into office), distinguished subordinates, mothers and, more rarely, fathers of twins, who are also priests and priestesses. Lefem figures?physical representations of the ancestors--also occasionally functioned as agents of the supernatural. As the embodiment of deceased individuals, the figures were treated with care and respect, specially cared for by dedicated servants (Brain and Pollock 1971).The term lefem is used to describe the portrait statues themselves, the name also refers to the association they symbolize. Other lefem symbols include wrought iron double-gongs and wooden trumpets used to communicate with the ancestors. Membership to the Lefem or 'Gong' society, as it has been called since British colonial times, is to this day passed down within a ruling family and confirmed with the payment of a membership fee. Members of the Gong society would gather for the celebration of important events such as the inauguration of a chief or a blessing of the land before the rainy season. A sacred grove near each chief's settlement was chosen for such events, the grove was also a graveyard. Lefem members would play the double gongs all night in order to make audible the invisible powers that would bless the new regent, his family and the whole group. For the ceremony the Lefem figures were brought out of the storehouses where they lay hidden, wrapped in leaves, and placed under a shelter in the sacred grove. The figures represented both important specific individuals and were symbolic of the ancestor world in general.The ultimate metonym or surrogate of Bangwa ancestors, and the supernatural powers associated with them, were ancestor skulls. The skulls mediated communication with the souls of the deceased and were venerated by every Bangwa family.The chief Fotabong Nsheu, represented by this figure, was a leader of the Bangwa chiefdom Fotabong (chiefdoms were named after the ruling family in the Bangwa region). Although Bangwa sculptors were well-known during their lifetime (see von Lintig in De Grunne, ed. 2001: 95-120), Bangwa oral history often does not include the identity of specific sculptors and few written records exist documenting carvers. I know five other sculptures that I can formally identify as having been carved by the same master carver who carved this Fotabong portrait. A representation of a mother of twins, which is a female figure with cowrie ornamentation holding a child in front (see Beumers and Koloss eds. 1992: figure 36), another mother of twins (Collection of the Linden Museum, Stuttgart: Inv. No. 33 508), a representation of a seated chief with an especially elongated arm bearing sixteen bracelets and one hand held to the chin (De Grunne, ed. 2001: 93 and 116, number 28), an unusual night mask (troh) conceived as a bust with small arms (Perrois, ed. 1993:100-101), and a seated figure with knobbed headdress first illustrated in 1911, which most closely resembles the portrait of Fotabong Nsheu (Germann 1911: plate I, figure 3).I have also identified two further pieces, which I believe are by this master's workshop: a standing figure of a dignitary, contemplatively cradling his cheek in his hand (see Beumers and Koloss eds. 1992: figure 37), and a very similar smaller figure on a staff (ibid: figure 44).Although the 'Bangwa style' is defined by iconological rules and the cultural circumstances in which the work was produced, several workshop traditions existed in which artists carved more individually. Within the Bangwa region approximately twenty different ways of conceptualizing and creating a wooden sculpture can be identified. The various schools probably result from the teachings of different master carvers. For example, the face and head of the afore-mentioned figures by the 'Fotabong Master' are not entirely oval but rather more flattened, the features are proportional and evenly spaced, not grouped close together. Large, almost oval eyes are set in protruding eyelids, and the nostrils are distinctively formed. The so-called Morellian criteria, whereby the artist's hand is revealed by quite unimportant details in the work is relevant to my analysis (Ginzburg 1995:7ff). In this instance, one observes that the ears of the figures are remarkably small on the portrait of Fotabong Nsheu, the figure with the elongated arm, and the two maternity figures, on which the ears have been reduced to inconspicuous boxes (in comparison, for example, to the large protruding ears of those sculptures from the Aseu Atsa workshop). In addition, the long, curved and decorated neck is emphasized in all the figures by the Fotabong Master. The continuity in the details of these otherwise very different works of art demonstrates the skill of an artist who manipulated traditional iconology in a self-confident and individual way.By grouping the eight objects discussed above into an atelier of the Fotabong Master and examining their collection history, one can establish a timeframe within which they may have been carved and hence when the portrait of Fotabong Nsheu was carved. The second portrait of a chief, published in 1911, which strongly resembles the chief figure in question, is particularly useful in establishing a timeframe. Both share almost the same knobbed headdress and flat face, as well as the same pose and an identical shoulder area with club-shaped upper arms. The second figure was collected in Banyo1 and accessioned by the Leipziger Völkerkundemuseum around 1902, during the German colonial era. The origin of the two maternity figures is even more precisely documented: the Berlin figure was acquired by G. Conrau during his work among the Bangwa groups between 1898 and 1899 while the sculpture in the Linden Museum in Stuttgart was accessioned in 1903. The two pieces I identified as the workshop of the 'Fotabong Master' were collected in 1909 by Langheld and in 1899 by Conrau respectively. Conrau, was the first European known to visit the Cameroon highlands. Hence one can conclude the 'Fotabong Master' was working as early as the 19th century, which places the date of carving for the portrait of Fotabong Nsheu within the timeframe of the late 19th to very early 20th century at the very latest. The portrait offered here is one of the more mature, sophisticated and beautiful works by the master carver.1 Banyo lies in the Cameroon grasslands, in the southernmost part of the Adamaua plateau and was under the rule of the Lamido of Jola. Important commercial trade routes led to and from the Islamized areas, crossing the highlands towards the west, where the nine Bangwa chiefdoms lie, through the forest area and down to the coast. Specialized workshops not only catered for the local market but also sold their products on the trade routes. I believe that the figure in the Leipziger Völkerkundemuseum arrived in Banyo through such a transaction. Having originated in the workshop of the 'Fotabong Master', it was traded on the commercial market and arrived in Banyo to fulfill a different function than with the Bangwa. I am strengthened in my belief by Paul Germann's text on this and another Banyo figure that I would also designate as Bangwa. In his writings he emphasizes the difference between these sculptures and the artistic production typical for the region, stating that their function is not known and that they are far more refined in their execution with a freer and more delicate formal treatment (Germann 1911: 12ff).Bettina von Lintig, September 2004, Munich, GermanySotheby's, Salle de vente
🔓Accès libre sans carte bancaire.
Titre de la vente : African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art
Date de la vente : 11/11/2004
🔓Accès libre sans carte bancaire.
Référence de l'enchère
: Live Sale
