Figure from a Meeting House Post
| Culture | Bawok |
|---|---|
| Culture | Pati |
| Title | Figure from a Meeting House Post |
| Date | 1909–1914 |
| Medium | Wood and pigment |
| Dimensions | Object: 39 1/2 × 11 1/2 × 12 in. (100.3 × 29.2 × 30.5 cm) Overall: 39 1/2 × 11 1/2 × 12 in. (100.3 × 29.2 × 30.5 cm) |
| Credit Line | Gift of John and Rita Grunwald, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 74.32 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
This male human figure stands on a wooden base and wears a hat/headdress as well as a garment around his waist. The figure's neck and head are jutting forward with shoulders slightly hunched, torso leaning forward, and knees slightly bent.
This figure was once part of a column decorating the front of a men’s meeting house of the Bali-Nyonga kingdom in the Grasslands of western Cameroon. When the meeting house burned, some columns were saved, cut, and the figures sold. The carving shows a man wearing a hat—all free men were required to wear hats in public—as well as a decorated loincloth. He holds a drinking horn, used for palm wine, a mildly intoxicating beverage consumed on social and ceremonial occasions.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Figure from a Meeting House Post | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=74.32