Ceremonial Palm Wine Vessel
Palm wine is served at courts throughout the Grassfields as a gesture of hospitality as well as to cement alliances. There it is dispensed from sumptuously beaded calabash vessels by royal wives. The skilled bead artist responsible for this work assembled thousands of glass seed beads, manufactured in Europe, into a complex composition of geometric designs. He unified these through dynamic and inventive transitions. The spoked medallions encircling the vessel’s rounded body represent the earth spider, an arachnid that dwells in multiple realms and is associated with wisdom and divination. Diamond patterns adorning its woven base refer to the frog, a symbol of the fertility and prosperity that results from political stability. The summit culminates in a dramatic convergence of two opposing bovine heads and a vertical reptilian one, each baring finely beaded teeth.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ceremonial Palm Wine Vessel
- Artist: Grassfields artists
- Date: late 19th–early 20th century
- Geography: Cameroon
- Culture: Grassfields region
- Medium: Gourd, glass beads, cloth, cane, wood
- Dimensions: H. 30 1/4 × W. 12 1/8 × D. 7 3/4 in. (76.8 × 30.8 × 19.7 cm)
- Classification: Beads-Containers
- Credit Line: Purchase, Gifts in memory of Bryce Holcombe, 1986
- Object Number: 1986.336a, b
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
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Grassfields artists
ca. 1800–80
Grassfields artists
early 20th century
Grassfields artists
early–mid-20th century
Grassfields carver and master beader
Late 19th–early 20th century
Cameroon
19th–20th century
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