111 FIG. 6: Prestige stool with leopard caryatid. Bandjoun kingdom, Bamileke, Grasslands, Cameroon. Before 1925. Wood, cotton fabric, glass beads. H: 51 cm. Collected by Frank Christol from King Kamga II of Bandjoun in or shortly before 1925. Ex Charles Ratton. Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2006.138. FIG. 7 (below): Beaded head. Bamileke, Grasslands, Cameroon. Woven cloth, glass beads, cowry shells, brass bell, suspension loop of red and pale green felt cloth. Ex Alan Stone. Helen and Brice Marden Collection. Photo courtesy of Christie’s. BEADED LEOPARD no actual leopard skin is visible in this photograph, the symbolism of the predator is nonetheless present. Here the king’s feet touch a footrest covered with glass beads arrayed in a lozenge pattern that evokes the spotted leopard skin.10 The two sculpted and bead-covered animal figures on this wooden footrest represent leopards, while the human head that they flank serves as a reminder of historic warfare. Together these representations evoke the power of Grasslands leadership. Even the stool that the corpulent chief sits upon is supported by a caryatid representing another royal animal, the elephant. Although it is an elephant, its beaded coat features lozenge-shaped designs that again represent stylized leopard fur. Generally speaking, the isosceles triangle, along with its variants, such as the lozenge (sometimes rotated as a checked pattern), is understood among the Bamileke as a design element representing the geometric interpretation of the leopard’s pelt markings (figs. 6 and 7).11 Somewhat more cryptic leopard symbolism appears in the center of a richly ornamented doorframe visible in a pair of early photographs of a very young chief taken in the Dschang area around 1930 (fig. 8). In the center of the doorway’s lintel are two chameleon depictions (discernible by their curled tails) carved in relief and facing in opposite directions.12 The notches on their bodies are characteristic not of lizard skin but rather of leopard spots. Such simultaneous multiplicity is a pervasive characteristic of Grassfields art and cosmology, a subject we will return to. The men depicted on the doorframe hold rifles, probably dane guns, and the elaborately carved portal as a whole is itself a distinctive signifier of high rank. Around his neck the young chief bears a snake made of stuffed cloth and stitched with beads. This animal, probably a python,13 was seen as the protector of the chefferie.14 His beaded insignia bracelets match the python around his neck and the young man also wears a blue-dyed skirt of royal cloth—used both in clothing and prestige display (fig. 9)—similar to the fabric that is incorporated into the FAMSF beaded leopard skin. Meaning Having seen the varied imagery that appears in the above-mentioned and other photographs, it is natural to wonder about the specific relationship that Grasslands chiefs had with the worldly and metaphysical order they were surrounded with, particularly as it relates to wild animals and, for our purposes, with the leopard. To understand this it is necessary to remember that these leaders existed in a culture that was supported by elaborate
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