Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka)
Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka)
Attribution follows a published museum catalogue or peer-reviewed scholarship. Object is held in a public collection under a published accession number.
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
Catalogued by Cleveland Museum of Art as “Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka)”, dated early 1900s. Harvested from the museum’s open-access record; every field below is copied from that record and none of it has been inferred.
Record
| People / culture | Bamileke |
|---|---|
| Country | Cameroon |
| Common name | Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka) |
| Form category | Face mask, Vertical helmet |
| Subject depicted | Elephant |
| Materials | Cotton, burlap, glass beads, twine, leather, and wood |
| Dimensions | Overall: 139.7 x 50.8 x 19.1 cm (55 x 20 x 7 1/2 in.) |
Provenance
L. Kahan Gallery Inc., New York. (?–1985)
The Cleveland Museum of Art by purchase (1985–)
| Collection | Cleveland Museum of Art |
|---|---|
| Accession number | 1985.1082 |
Source
https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.1082
This record is a catalogue entry, not an appraisal, valuation or legal determination. Nothing here should be read as evidence that an object was lawfully acquired or exported.