Superbe statuette, Bafo, Cameroun

Ludwig Bretschneider, Munich
Ancienne collects ion du Dr. Helga Redlich, Allemagne

Excellent condition overall. Wear consistent with age and use within the culture. Fine and nuanced patina with areas of light encrustation.
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Parmi les très nombreuses figurines mu' po sculptées et utilisées à des fins divinatoires et thérapeutiques dans le Grassland camerounais, le thème du personnage janus - rare - offre dans chaque style les œuvres les plus abouties.

Ici l'unité des deux personnages - l'un féminin, l'autre masculin - représentés dos à dos dans une même attitude, est exaltée par la remarquable fluidité des lignes et la superbe patine nuancée, brun rouge, brillante sur les reliefs (émoussés par l'usage), grumeleuse dans les creux.

Selon Harter (1986 : 268) à propos d'une statuette mu'po à l'iconographie comparable, "elles appartiendraient aux devins dotés de double vue vers le passé et l'avenir [...] ou seraient les insignes de chefs de groupe ku'n'gan". L'une comme l'autre des interprétations expliquent la grande rareté du type.

A superb Bafo figure, Cameroon

Amongst the numerous mu'po figures which were made for divination and therapeutic rites in the Grasslands of Cameroon, Janus figures are rare and amongst the most accomplished works.

Here the unity of the two figures, one male, one female, represented back to back in the same pose, is heightened by the remarkable fluidity of the lines and the superb nuanced red-brown patina, glossy upon the high reliefs (which have been rubbed by use) and friable in the hollows.

Harter, discussing a mu'po figure of similar iconography notes that 'they belonged to diviners equipped with the ability to see both the past and the future [...] or were the insignia of chiefs from the ku'n'gan group' (1986: 268). Either interpretation would account for the great rarity of this type of figure.