A fine and rare Bamum helmet mask, Fumban region

of massive scale, the thick tapering neck pierced through horizontally for attachment, and supporting a forward-projecting head with gaping mouth beneath a broad stylized nose and large oval eyes set into deep sockets, and wearing an elaborate interlocking headdress composed of two curving serpents; fine and encrusted deep brown patina.

Collected in the early 1950's in the region of Fumban

Monti, Plastik aus Schwarz Afrika, 1967:catalogue number 180, plate 180, catalogue of the exhibition, Darmstadt, June 3 - July 16, 1967

The large male tungung was worn as a helmet fastened to the top of a dancer's head, and the neck covered with a costume of feathers and cloth which concealed the dancer in entirety. Carved to recall chiefs and their wives, large Bamum helmets like this were mostly danced in pairs-- male and female together. This helmet is male, depicting an unusual two-headed serpent, an emblem created by the mfou  Mbwenbwe who ruled between 1820 and 1850, a period when the arts flourished amongst the Bamum. See Harter (1986:159 and 166) for another helmet mask and a stool depicting the image of the serpent. This iconography was reserved exclusively for the king and the chiefs who had submitted to him. The masks themselves belonged to members of secret societies, and were worn only on special occasions such as funerary processions.