Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka)
The name given to masks like this, mbap mteng, means "animal with huge ears." In the Cameroon Grassfields kingdoms, the elephant signifies power, authority, prestige, and leadership. The colorful glass beads that decorate the mask’s surface were imported from Venice and Bohemia (in Europe) and signal wealth and prosperity. Its geometric patterns include triangles that evoke the leopard, another animal linked with royal power. Members of Kuosi, an elite male society, wore such elephant masks for ritual dances and funerary ceremonies. This mask would have been worn with a costume that include...
Details
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Dimensions
- overall: height 1.397 m, width 0.508 m, depth 0.191 m
- Department
- African Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- The Harold T. Clark Educational Extension Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
-
Animals Metadata · 98%
The title and museum description identify the represented animal as an elephant; the description also refers to leopard imagery in the geometric patterns.
Visual Qualities
-
Symmetrical Visual · 99%
The frontal mask has strong bilateral symmetry, with matching circular ears, repeated facial elements, and a centered vertical body.
-
Patterns Visual · 100%
Repeated bead arrangements create radiating spokes, diamonds, chevrons, zigzags, bands, and lattice-like motifs across the surface.
-
Geometric Visual · 98%
The decoration is organized through clearly legible triangles, diamonds, chevrons, grids, and radial geometric arrangements.
-
Highly Ornamented Visual · 100%
Nearly the entire visible front is covered with elaborate multicolored bead decoration and repeated ornamental patterning.
Geographic Regions
-
African Art Metadata · 100%
The work is classified by the museum as African Art and is associated with Central Africa and Cameroon.
Materials
-
Glass as Material Both · 100%
Individual beads are clearly visible in the image, and the museum explicitly lists glass beads among the materials.
-
Wood Metadata · 88%
Wood is included in the museum’s cataloged medium, although the underlying wooden support is largely concealed by the decorated covering.
Cultural and Religious Styles
-
Bamileke Art Metadata · 98%
The catalog identifies a Bamileke-style maker and locates the work in Cameroon’s Grassfields region.
Textiles
-
Use of Fabric Metadata · 96%
The museum lists cotton and burlap among the materials; textile surfaces and edging are also visible in the image.
Antiquities, Artifacts, and Religious Objects
-
Mask Metadata · 100%
The museum classifies the object as a mask and titles it Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka).
Source & rights
Unknown artist. Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka). Cleveland Museum of Art.