Reliquary figure III C 6689 b | Photographer: Martin Franken | Rights management: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International
The figurine is part of a byeri that was purchased with two guardian figurines and the entire contents from a German administrative official in southern Cameroon. The figure is unusually well preserved with its jewellery made of glass beads, a European button and the large feather bonnet. She carries a medicine horn in her hand. The eyes, jewellery scars and bracelets are accentuated by sheet brass fittings and brass nails. These precious materials emphasise her strength, which is also expressed visually in her muscular body, broad neck, taut face with a flat chin and wide, narrow-lipped mouth. / P.J.
