Lizard helmet mask, Bekom, Cameroon (Grassland) - Lot 8

Lizard helmet mask, Bekom, Cameroon (Grassland) Wood, grey-brown patina in places Height: 73 cm - Width 35 cm Provenance : Bertil Berg, Goteborg, Sweden French private collection --- Lizard helmet mask, Bekom, Cameroon (Grassland) Wood, crispy patina in places, grey brown Height: 73 cm - Width 35 cm Source: Bertil Berg, Gothenburg, Sweden French private collection This rare and important mask-heaume reflects the stylistic characteristics of the Kingdom of Kom, a major artistic center in the Grasslands region since the early 19th century, renowned for its particularly dynamic creative activity. The Kom style shares close links with the Bamoun style, these connections having been consolidated by the dispatch of sculptors to neighboring kingdoms in the Ndop region, gradually extending as far as Foumban. The mask features a face whose accentuated features bear the stamp of marked expressionism, softened by a concern for realism reflected in the importance given to detail. Large, bulging eyes with hemmed eyelids are topped by cross-hatched eyebrows marking a prominent, rounded forehead. A busted nose with dilated nostrils dominates a half-open mouth, revealing rows of filed teeth. The drooping, disproportionately puffed cheeks are associated with maturity, prosperity and dignity, and evoke horn players, a traditional wind instrument of the region. Although often associated with the Bamoun, the puffed-up cheek motif is part of a wider tradition of Grassland chieftaincy, whose origins can be traced back to the Ndop plain. The headdress features an openwork superstructure with four lizards finely sculpted in a naturalistic style. A symbol of royalty, guardian and divinity of the waters, the lizard evokes, according to Jean Paul Notué, life, agility, benevolence and fertile power. Kapak lizards are distinguished by their long tails, which, in this depiction, gracefully curl around the animal's body, forming the very frame in which it sits. Furthermore, our object is close to a typology of masks associated with the Babanki style, characteristic of the Bamenda cultural area, whose human faces are traditionally surmounted by high openwork crests sculpted with zoomorphic representations, of which the spider is the most common. For reference, the mask from the former Klejman collection, exhibited in 1973 at the exhibition Royal Art of Cameroon: The Art of the Bamenda-Tikar, and reproduced in Tamara Northern's eponymous catalog (p. 55, cat. no. 45), displays obvious stylistic similarities. Our object also shares marked plastic and symbolic characteristics with the very rare corpus of Tukah funerary masks with saurian motifs, of which only two examples are known to exist - one in the Pavillon des Sessions at the Louvre, the other in the Bamendou chiefdom. Although the stylistic treatment of the face and the patina differ - yellowish-ochre for the Pavillon des Sessions example, black and crusty for our mask - the very specific common iconography of the openwork headdress decorated with lizards raises the question of a marked influence of these masks on our object. This mask, with its stylistic features shared with Kom, Bamoun, Babanki and Tukah saurian masks, illustrates the porosity of artistic boundaries within the Grasslands. The difficulty in distinguishing certain masks from these styles testifies to the dynamics of exchanges, the movement of sculptors and the circulation of forms, reflecting alliances, conflicts or exchanges between the various chiefdoms of the region. This rare and important helmet mask reflects the stylistic characteristics of the Kom Kingdom, a major artistic center in the Grasslands region since the early 19th century, renowned for its particularly dynamic creative activity. The Kom style shares close ties with the Bamoun style, connections that were strengthened by the sending of sculptors to the neighboring kingdoms in the Ndop region, gradually extending to Foumban. The mask presents a face whose accentuated features bear the mark of pronounced expressionism, softened by a concern for realism, evident in the attention to detail. The wide, bulging eyes with outlined eyelids are topped by notched eyebrows marking a prominent, rounded forehead. The hooked nose with flared nostrils dominates an open mouth, revealing rows of filed teeth. The sagging, excessively puffed cheeks are associated with maturity, prosperity, and dignity and evoke the trumpet players, a traditional wind instrument of the region. This motif of puffed cheeks, though ofte