Mambila Head Crest Figure Feathers Suaga Due African Art Collection

Description

Title
Mambila Head Crest Figure Feathers Suaga Due African Art Collection
Type of Object
Headrest, Figure
Country of Origin
Cameroon
People
Mambila
Materials
Wood, Feathers, Metal
Approximate Age
20th century
Height (in)
12
Width (in)
3.5
Depth (in)
3.5
Other Dimensions
Height: 12 Inches
Width: 3.5 Inches
Depth: 3.5 Inches
Overall Condition
Good. Most of our pieces have spent decades on at least two continents, and have been treasured by several owners.   Small splits, scrapes and cracks are a normal part of their patina attesting to their age and extensive use.  We examine each piece carefully when we receive it and report any damage we find in our listings.  Please look carefully at the pictures which may also reveal condition and damage.
Additional Information:
Mambila people were transferred as a group from the grasslands of northern Cameroon to northern Nigeria in 1961. Living in the Grasslands region of Cameroon and Nigeria, the Mambila hold dances at the end of the planting and harvesting seasons, in June-July and December-January. Male dancers wearing brightly-painted, carved wooden masks or a grass-woven costume dance in a strictly ranked order of appearance that includes a human-headed mask followed by a mask called Suah Bur and a similar, but smaller mask called Suah Due. The last mask to appear is a male dancer wearing a woven grass costume either dyed a dark color or patterned with red. The difficulty of attributing a firm age to Mambila art, whether of figures or masks, is that they were repainted with red, black and white paint before each appearance and therefore a worn surface as a factor of age is difficult to determine.
Recommended Reading:
Young, J. Y. "African Art in the Mambila collection of Gilbert Schneider," 1967.
From the Collection of Robert Pearson, Denver, Colorado
Bob Pearson began collecting African art later in his life.  He was a n engineer, inveterate climber, and long-time collector of books and paintings.  Spurred by the Douglas Society at the Denver Museum of Art, and his friendship with noted collector George Heggarty, he began building an enormous, eclectic collection. His African art library grew to several hundred books.  He loved textiles and “material culture”-things which had domestic use, like spoons, cups, stools, and chairs, as well as masks and carvings.  His collection included items from more than thirty African countries, and his fine eye gave him pieces ranging from a golddust scale to huge Dogon figural ladders.  Africa Direct is honored to have been chosen to sell them.
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