Model pipe bowl with seated figure
Pipe-makers in Bamessing kept examples of their most popular designs for their apprentices to study. This early model, collected by renowned Tungo artist Tita Yuefainji, depicts a Grassfields ruler. His outsized head features the pronounced cheeks, eyes, and brow commonly found on helmet crests from the region. Diminutive hands grasp either side of his mouth in a variation of the classical hand-to-chin gesture. The stool upon which its subject is seated doubles as a base for the pipe.
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