Superb and large wooden maternity ward, typical of the Bangwa ethnic group of Cameroon

Height: 76 cm, age cracks (see photos)

The Bangwa people

The Bangwa live in a region of the Grassland located to the west of the plateau that is home to the Bamiléké. They are organized into nine chiefdoms and belong to the cultural area of ​​the Bamiléké whose stylistic elements are found in their art.

Bangwa art

Bangwa art, which reflects the social life organized around the king and secret societies, is mainly composed of statuary whose major works are commemorative sculptures of kings, queens, princesses and titled servants, as well as the parents of twins.

Artistic productions, such as this maternity, are kept by members of the Lefem society (a group of rich and powerful notables), who exhibit them on the occasion of funerals and royal cults during a liturgy linked to the protection of the kingdom, to the fertility or fertility of the earth, during the annual propitiatory sacrifices, to bless and purify the kingdom.

Fertility and motherhood are among the omnipresent subjects in Grassland societies. This is reflected in art by the frequent representations of pregnant women and, especially, carrying a child. These sculptures are made in honor of the parents who wear special adornments and insignia and change their names: the father becomes tanyi, the mother anyi. She is initiated into the society of the anyi who dance and sing at funerals and important ceremonies. During the annual agrarian rites relating to fertility, the prosperity of the soil and the country, the anyi parade wearing their special insignia (bracelets and necklaces, branch of the tree of peace held in the hand, body covered with red mahogany powder) to bless and fertilize the land.

The Bangwa Maternity

The success of this composition, despite some liberties taken with the proportions, and its crusty patina typical of the Grassland region make it a representative object of Bangwa art.