Kings of the Cameroon Grassfields used lavish visual displays to assert their status and wealth. Bowls and vessels were among the many objects commissioned by local rulers and skilled artisans would be paid, and in some cases given noble ranks, for their services. Bowls were carved with abstract geometric patterns and zoomorphic images that related to the prestige of the object's owner. Bowls of this type could be used as containers for food and beverages as well as for offerings to ancestor spirits.

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