Beaded Royal Figure Holding Wine Vessel - Tribal Art
This exquisite beaded figure of a man holding a cup and wine vessel is lavishly beset with cowrie shells. The skin of the figure is decorated with alluring blue glass beads. Its left wrist sports a blue and pink beaded bracelet. The wine and cup are adorned with a checkered pattern of red and green beads that gorgeously contrasts the rest of the figure. The headdress is decorated with a pattern of concentric black and white diamonds made from glass beads.
Dimensions approx. 93 x 38 x 25 cm
Beaded art from the Cameroon Grasslands collected between 1985 and 2005. Rulers throughout the many Kingdoms in the Cameroon Grassland region (Bamileke –Bamum -Tikar) employed a range of Regalia to assert their political, economic and religious power. Presented publicly in lavish displays of wealth and power, many court objects were distinguished by their elaborate bead embroidery. Imported from Venice, Bohemia or Amsterdam, glass beads were considered a luxury material whose use and distribution were controlled by the King. The decoration of objects with vast quantities of brilliantly colored beads transformed utilitarian objects into symbols of royal status and prestige.
All lots are in the state the collector acquire them. No restorations or cleaning has been performed.
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