TRIBES OF PLANET EARTH

CAMEROON, AFRICA

Royal Stool
Bali Kingdom, Grassfields, Cameroon, 1916

From 1884, Cameroon had been a German protectorate but during the 1914-18 World War it was divided between the British and French.
This royal leopard stool belonged to the Fon or ‘King’ of the Bali kingdom.
In 1916 he gave it to King George V as a diplomatic gift.

Royal Helmet Mask

Bamum, Cameroon, late 19th or early 20th century

This royal mask has a prestigious beaded cap.
A royal official would wear it at the annual public festival that marked the end of the main harvest. It was brought to Liverpool by a member of the Holt family who were involved in the West African trade from the 1860s.

Buffalo Mask

Duala, Cameroon, before 1908
This mask may have been intended to portray Njona – a dangerous water spirit that resembles a buffalo. It would have been worn with a costume by members of the male initiation associations called Losango. The masker would have appeared in public at funeral ceremonies and to perform policing functions within the community.

The Kingdoms

There were many independent kingdoms in the Grassfields.

Each king’s power was balanced by councils of nobles and palace masquerade associations. These palace institutions still function today in many kingdoms.
Complex trade relationships encouraged craftspeople to develop special skills in different areas of the Grassfields.

Kings often commissioned stools and other royal objects from craftspeople in other kingdoms.
Trade routes linked the Grassfields with the Cameroon coast.

Since the 17th century, the Duala acted as middlemen between Europeans and groups inland. They initially transported ivory, then slaves and then palm oil, down river to European ships anchored off the coast.

They distributed European goods, like guns, gunpowder and beads up river along the same routes. Prosperous traders became spokesmen and leaders.

Their families were raised to positions of influence and helped change Duala society.

ALTAR HEAD

Edo, Benin City, Nigeria, 15th century

This realistic head dates from the earliest period of Edo court sculpture, before European contact in the late 15th century, because bronze sculpture progressed from a naturalistic to a more formal style. It is small and finely cast because bronze was scarce.

OBA FIGURES

Edo, Benin City, Nigeria, 19th century

These two Oba figures are wearing beaded coral crowns of a type introduced by Oba Osemwede who reigned from 1816-1848.

Each holds a ceremonial sword eben and a brass staff.

They may have hung on royal altars by the twisted metal rings at the top.

THE QUEEN MOTHER

Head of Queen Mother

Edo, Benin City, Nigeria 16th century

Oba Esigie established the powerful position of Iyoba, Queen Mother, in the early 16th century in honour of his mother Idia who helped him defeat an invading army.

The Iyoba lives in her own court with its own chiefs at Uselu outside Benin City.

Only altars dedicated to previous Obas and previous Iyobas have commemorative heads cast in brass.
Only the Oba, the Iyoba and one hereditary war chief are permitted to wear coral headgear to denote their exceptional status.

This head has a peaked headdress of coral beads worn only by the Iyoba.

MILITARY ART

Edo, Benin City, Nigeria, 16th century

Oba Ovonramwen (who reigned from 1888-1897)

gave this sculpture to John Henry Swainson, a Liverpool trader, when he visited Benin with a British diplomatic expedition in 1892.

Such figures were placed on royal ancestral altars and may have commemorated the military power of a particular Oba.
Purchased with the assistance of The National Art Collections Fund.

THE EDO KINGDOM

Oba, Ovonramwen.
Photograph by the Ibani Ijo photographer J A Green.
From the Howie photo album in the archives of the Merseyside Maritime Museum

Towards the end of the 19th century, the British saw the Edo kingdom as an obstruction to their colonial expansion and their increased need for palm oil.
After British emissaries were killed on their way to Benin City in 1897, Britain sent a ‘punitive expedition’ to take over the Edo kingdom.
The reigning Oba, Ovonramwen, was deposed.
This photograph shows him with guards on board ship on his way to exile in Calabar in 1897.
The unusual gown he is wearing hides his shackles.
Bronze, brass, ivory and wood artworks - never seen before in the West – were removed from his palace and sold in London to help pay the costs of the expedition.
Such an injustice...