Mask of the TrohSociety (Bangwa).
Western Province, Cameroon.
Wood with a blackish encrusted patina, 27 x 19.7 x 27.5 cm.
Musée du quai Branly, Paris.
The guardians of the tradition of the secret society of Troh, who supervised funerals, the selection of a new chief, and
his enthronement, consists of a council of nine dignataries. Part of their attire, this helmet is passed through families
from father to son, which implies that only nine masks are in existance. This mask consists of various spherical shapes
for the brow, eyes, cheeks, and so on; we see a man in a pointed headdress whose face is in a slight, open-mouthed
grimace, showing his filed teeth. The thick coating, proof of the great age of the mask, comes from years of ritual
libation and fumigation. The Trohmember to whom this belonged guarded it with great care.