Portrait Figure of Metang, the 10th King of Batufam
Bamileke
1912–1914
- Medium
- Wood and pigment with traces of chalk and camwood
- Dimensions
- 130.5 × 43.2 × 31 cm (51 3/8 × 17 × 12 1/4 in.); 129 × 38.5 × 34 cm (50 13/16 × 15 3/16 × 13 7/16 in.)
- Genre
- sculpture
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
camwoodkaolinbamilekeancestorspainting (coating)regaliakingshipwoodplant materialportraitsculpturewood (plant material)abstract figuresafrican Artarts of AfricaCoastal West Africacarvingportraitspigmentking
About
This stylized portrait of Metang was commissioned around 1912, when he was initiated into kingship. The ruler holds a buffalo drinking horn and a gourd container, two of the most important regalia throughout the Bamileke kingdoms in the Cameroon Grassfields. This figure was photographed several times, always next to the entrance of the Batufam palace, arranged with a portrait of his senior wife and several other sculptures of kings and queens.
