Male tadep(?) figure

The shelf-like hips and shoulders, wide eyes, and open mouth of this figure likely identify it as a tadep. Created by both Kaka and Mambila artists in the Donga River region of Cameroon and Nigeria, tadep originated as medicinal agents and may also have served protective functions. Many were connected with Sùàgà, a Mambila healing association. In that context, such sculptures were maintained in nggob, granary-like shelters adorned with painted panels and with smaller sculpted pith figures suspended on the exterior. The interiors of nggob contained masks, ceramics, medicinal ingredients, musical instruments, and larger wood figures (Zeitlyn, p. 41).

In contrast to Mambila tadep, which were carved as narrow columns with rounded bellies and spherical heads, this example is distinctive for its stockier format. Its broad chest and angular shoulders and hips offer a uniquely masculine presence when compared with the more benign features of Mambila versions. Art historian Susan Vogel situated this figure among a modest corpus of related sculptures with upraised, bearded chins; flexed arms that are held away from the body; and firmly planted feet that extend as far behind the ankle as in front of it (Vogel, p. 159). She tentatively attributed such creations to the Mbem, a sub-group of the Kaka, through contextual analysis and deduction.

Jenny Peruski, 2025
Assistant Curator for the Arts of Africa