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Head crest
Bamum
20th century, 1950–2000
Object Place: Grassfields, Cameroon
Medium/Technique
Copper alloy, fiber
Dimensions
Overall: 44.5 x 25 x 25 cm (17 1/2 x 9 13/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Geneviève McMillan in memory of Reba Stewart
Accession Number2009.2685.1
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsContemporary Art, Africa and Oceania
ClassificationsSculpture
Masks (ngoin) like this one perform during men's death celebrations; today, they also appear at political events and official celebrations. They belong to important men in charge of large families. A young man wore this female mask like a helmet on his head, his face covered with a net and his body concealed under a tunic-like garment.
Provenance1979, sold by Mr. Sillah (or Silla), Cambridge, MA, to Geneviève McMillan (b. 1922 - d. 2008), Cambridge, MA; 2008, to the Geneviève McMillan and Reba Stewart Foundation, Cambridge; 2009, gift of the Geneviève McMillan and Reba Stewart Foundation to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 17, 2009)