#bagam

"Wicked" fanart animated short I made. The music was made by the great composer “Stephen Schwartz”. Support me on patreon and gain access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3197569

Bowl of a Royal Pipe

Bamum or Bagam peoples (artist unidentified), Western Grassfields, Cameroon, 20th century

Artists in the Bamum and Bagam kingdoms of the Cameroon Grassfields created stunning objects using the lost-wax casting technique.  Among them is this bronze tobacco-pipe bowl in the form of an elephant’s head, which boldly captures the animal’s characteristic features.  Two sets of enormous tusks allude to the importance of ivory.  In the symbolic universe of the Grassfields peoples, kings and elephants are closely associated, as both display power and strength.  Thus, pipes such as this one were prestige objects reserved for royalty.