Currently not on view
Plumed tunic,
after 1950
Bamileke artist
1998-728
Accompanied by musicians, feathered tunics of this type were normally seen in motion, worn by dancers in men’s initiation associations linked to the fo, the community’s spiritual and political leader. Performers would wear headdresses of horned animals horizontally on their heads, their faces covered by a loosely woven fabric. Feathered tunics collected before World War I have woven raffia as the underlying textile, but this tunic’s feathers are attached to a machine-made substitute. The feathers are also dyed red to imitate the tail
feathers of the African gray parrot, found on earlier examples. This evidence suggests that the cloak probably was made in the mid- to late twentieth century, after this type of textile became available in Cameroon. Close examination shows no signs of wear on the interior, no stress to the seams, and no damage to the feathers, indicating that the tunic was removed from Cameroon before it could be used in a ceremonial context.
feathers of the African gray parrot, found on earlier examples. This evidence suggests that the cloak probably was made in the mid- to late twentieth century, after this type of textile became available in Cameroon. Close examination shows no signs of wear on the interior, no stress to the seams, and no damage to the feathers, indicating that the tunic was removed from Cameroon before it could be used in a ceremonial context.
Information
Title
Plumed tunic
Dates
after 1950
Maker
Bamileke artist
Medium
Synthetic fiber and feathers (African harrier-hawk, great blue turaco, and domestic chicken)
Dimensions
135.0 cm x 121.0 cm x 39.0 cm (53 1/8 x 47 5/8 x 15 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951
Object Number
1998-728
Place Made
Africa, Cameroon, Grassfields
Type
Materials
Subject
John B. Elliott, New York, NY by 1988; Princeton University Art Museum, 1998
- Dominique Malaquais, "A robe fit for for a chief," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 58, no. 1/2 (1999): p. 16-37., p. 16, fig. 1
- "Selected checklist of objects in the collection of African art," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 58, no. 1/2 (1999): p. 77–83., p. 78
-
"The checklist of the John B. Elliott Bequest," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 61 (2002): p. 49-99.
, p. 90 - Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 288 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 340
