Dance costume (Bamileke).
Cameroon.
Fabric, fibres, dye, cowries, goatskin, height: 100 cm.
Dr and Mrs Henri Tranier Collection.
This dance costume with an “elephant” hood and leg bangles,
most often worn by notable men in Macabosicelebrations,
otherwise known as the Bamendjou population’s general
meeting, but also during to a new king’s sacrament, the end of
the harvest celebrations, or the funeral of an important man. In
the Bamileke area, the close guards of the chief in the Kwi’fo
initiation society wear the “elephant” mask, referred to as
tou-poumor mbadjoua.
Dance costume (Bamileke).
Cameroon.
Fabric, fibres, dye, cowries, goatskin, height: 140 cm.
Dr and Mrs Henri Tranier Collection.Female dance costumes for the Bamendjou are comprised of a
hood, “elephant” mask with a plate, which symbolises the
power of the king, and vegetable bells. A large, flat, circular hat
is most especially worn by the fo, or chief, when he intends to
be seen with the notable people of the Kwo’sisociety.