OBJECT history FIG. 11 (above right): Headcrest of the nkpwe warrior society. Bangwa, Cameroon. 19th century. Wood. H: 33.4 cm. Collected by Gustav Conrau, 1899. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, inv. III C 10565. Appears as number 5 in Conrau’s letter of June 11, 1899 (fi g. 9). 134 to give him—and, by extension, the headdress—greater height and a seemingly hunchbacked appearance.12 These headdresses return us to the illustrated letter from Conrau to von Luschan mentioned above, as one of them (fi g. 11) appears as #5 in the illustrations. He describes it along with number 4 (the post fi gure) as having, in his words, a “Mephistophelian facial expression.” Last year, Kevin and I had the opportunity to visit the storage of the Berlin Museum and see a number of the objects Conrau had collected among the Bangwa and neighboring peoples. The sketches from his letter cross-referenced with other documents in the archives made it possible for me to identify illustration numbers 2 (fi g. 12), 5 (fi g. 11), and 6 (fi g. 10) in the museum’s collection. The standing fi gure on the decorated pedestal seen as illustration number 1 appears to be identical to former inv. #10519. This piece—along with the famous Bangwa Queen (formerly inv. 10529); her “partner,” the Bangwa King (formerly inv. 10518); a seated male fi gure, “bontui,” holding a calabash (formerly inv. 10516); and a “temakan buibui post with carved fi gure, holding a head or a mask with its hands, 121 cm.” (formerly inv. 10544)—became the property of noted dealer Arthur Speyer in the 1920s13 and thence found their way onto the art market.14 The temakan buibui post fi gure was obviously of particular interest, but the height was wrong, since the notation “40 cm.” is clearly written next to illustration #4 in the letter. However, I discovered that this measurement corresponds to the size of the Potter Museum fi gure alone, minus its post. In fact, the fi gure together with its post is exactly 121 cm high (it had been inaccurately measured at “approx. 45 ins” (114.3 cm) by Bonhams or at some time prior to its 2003 sale). The tips of the protuberances visible at the neck in Conrau’s drawings had been broken off the piece over the course of the years, but a fragmentary protrusion at the back of the neck is visible when the object is viewed from the back (fi g. 14). Our visit to the museum’s storage further established that Conrau used pink chalk to identify the objects he illustrated in the letter (fi g. 13). The Potter Museum post indeed has a pink number “4” inscribed on it (fi g. 15), corresponding to its number in the drawing. There is now no doubt that this is the same piece Conrau illustrated in his 1899 letter. This unusual sculpture would have been associated with lefem, a term that has multiple meanings. It refers to the sacred grove that was a part of every chiefl y estate FIG. 9 (right): Detail of letter from fi g. 3. FIG. 10 (below): Standing fi gure on a post. Bangwa, Cameroon. 19th century. Wood. H: 111 cm. Collected by Gustav Conrau, 1899. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, inv. III C 10545. Appears as number “6” in Conrau’s letter of June 11, 1899 (fi g. 9). FIG. 12 (right): Standing fi gure. Bangwa, Cameroon. 19th century. Wood. H: 34 cm. Collected by Gustav Conrau, 1899. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, inv. III C 10522. Appears as number 2 in Conrau’s letter of June 11, 1899 (fi g. 9).
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