Palace pillar with male figures and leopard

Grassfields artist

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 344

This pillar featured within an intricate network of jambs, posts, and beams that once composed a Grassfields palace. It is carved with depictions of leopards, potent symbols of sovereignty throughout the Grassfields. There the fon (ruler) holds sole claim to the pelt of any leopard hunted within his domain. As palaces are made from woven bamboo and other vulnerable organic materials, they require regular renewal. During a 1933 renovation of royal complex at Kedjom Keku (Big Babanki), this and two other related works were acquired by German American missionary Paul Gebauer and his wife, Clara.

Palace pillar with male figures and leopard, Grassfields artist, Wood, pigment, Babanki

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