Mokengue (bell)
Along with seats, staffs, and fly whisks, members of a powerful male professional association known as evovi (judges) wielded bells as emblems of their authority. These markers of status enhanced a judge’s gestures and punctuated his pronouncements. When sounded, the bell produced reverberations likened to that of a beating heart. The head-shaped wood handle represents Kombe, a Tsogho mythical being regarded as the supreme justice and as a source of life.
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