Cleveland Museum of Art

Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka)

Date

early 1900s

Medium

Cotton, burlap, glass beads, twine, leather, and wood

Culture

Africa, Central Africa, Cameroon, Grassfields region, Bamileke-style maker

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The name given to masks like this, mbap mteng , means "animal with huge ears." In the Cameroon Grassfields kingdoms, the elephant signifies power, authority, prestige, and leadership. The colorful glass beads that decorate the mask’s surface were imported from Venice and Bohemia (in Europe) and signal wealth and prosperity. Its geometric patterns include triangles that evoke the leopard, another animal linked with royal power. Members of Kuosi , an elite male society, wore such elephant masks for ritual dances and funerary ceremonies. This mask would have been worn with a costume that included a feather headdress Performers wore elephant masks with indigo-dyed robes, red feather headdresses, and leopard pelts. Leopards and elephants symbolized royal power.

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