African Tribal Art

Pearls from the grassfields

Thinking of african figures with pearls one of the most remarkable examples is the throne of a king in the museum of ethnology in Berlin. In 1908 the ruler Njoya of Bamun gave this throne of his father to the german emperor Wilhelm 2.

This monument is very good represented in the book „Afrika, Kunst der Negervoelker“ by E. Leuzinger, publishing house Holle, 1964.

At a visit in Berlin, of course we have looked at this throne in the africa collection. It is indeed a great work. We could admire, but not like it so much, since it looked so new despite of the age. During collecting of african tribal art our love for old masks and figures with traces of use had developed very rapidly.

In the book „The art of the black Africa“ of J.Karchache et. al. Herder publishing house 1989 is shown a Bamilicke figure in a large format, page 136, wich corresponds to our ideas much more.

In our collection we have two figures set with pearls. They are shown under grassfields with the numbers 159 and 160. The traces of use are very obvious and the color of the pearls is changed by light and age. The appeal and the size show , that the owner was a person of high dignity.

These old and beautiful pieces belong to the oustanding items of our collection

Kategorie: figures, Aktualisiert am 21. März 2008 von admin | Anmelden