Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka)
Unknown Artist
early 1900s
Medium
Cotton, burlap, glass beads, twine, leather, and wood
Dimensions
139.7 × 50.8 × 19.1 cm
Classification
Mask
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Harold T. Clark Educational Extension Fund
Accession Number
1985.1082
About this artwork
The name given to masks like this, mbap mteng, means "animal with huge ears." In the Cameroon Grassfields kingdoms, the elephant signifies power, authority, prestige, and leadership. The colorful glass beads that decorate the mask’s surface were imported from Venice and Bohemia (in Europe) and signal wealth and prosperity. Its geometric patterns include triangles that evoke the leopard, another animal linked with royal power. Members of Kuosi, an elite male society, wore such elephant masks for ...