"Can an invention remain new?": Alisa LaGamma on the tsesah crest
For MetCollects, Alisa LaGamma, Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Curator in Charge of the Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, discusses the recently acquired tsesah crest by the Bamileke peoples of the from the Cameroon Grassfields region.
Featured Artwork:
Crest (tsesah), 18th century. Cameroon, Grassfields region. Bamileke peoples. Wood, 37 x 32 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. (94 x 82.6 x 29.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Acquisitions and Rogers Funds, and Anonymous, James J. Ross, and Marian Malcolm Gifts, 2017 (2017.35)
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/735917
MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art recently acquired by the Met through gifts and purchases. Discover a new work each month.
Filmed in the exhibition
The Face of Dynasty: Royal Crests from Western Cameroon
At The Met Fifth Avenue
December 4, 2017–September 3, 2018
Other works courtesy of:
National Museum for African Art, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Walt Disney World Co., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company
The Menil Collection, Houston
Private collection, Courtesy of McClain Gallery
African Crest (Tsesah) | Met Collects
"Can an invention remain new?": Alisa LaGamma on the tsesah crest.
Alisa LaGamma
3 min. watch
Contributors
Alisa LaGamma
Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Curator in Charge, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Curator in Charge, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
More from The Met
Five case studies for select recent acquisitions demonstrate the varied and complex nature of provenance research at The Met.
Lucian Simmons, Maya Muratov, Christine E. Brennan, Ria Breed, Anne Dunn-Vaturi, Michael Seymour, and Mary Chan
April 8
Samoylova’s images capture the trompe l’oeil of Florida, many to do with water and glass—the mise-en-abyme of cypress trunks reflected in a tannic creek.
Ange Mlinko
March 21
Video
Art Mentioned
A slider containing 1 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Bamileke peoples
18th century