{
"data": {
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"accession_number": "1985.1082",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka), early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Cameroon, Grassfields region, Bamileke-style maker. Cotton, burlap, glass beads, twine, leather, and wood; overall: 139.7 x 50.8 x 19.1 cm (55 x 20 x 7 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Harold T. Clark Educational Extension Fund, 1985.1082",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Mask (mbap mteng): Elephant (aka)",
"creation_date": "early 1900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1900,
"creation_date_latest": 1925,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, Central Africa, Cameroon, Grassfields region, Bamileke-style maker"
],
"technique": "Cotton, burlap, glass beads, twine, leather, and wood",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Mask",
"measurements": "Overall: 139.7 x 50.8 x 19.1 cm (55 x 20 x 7 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 1.397,
"height_inch": 55,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.508,
"width_inch": 20,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"depth": 0.191,
"depth_inch": 7,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.5
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},
"state_of_the_work": null,
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"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 192823,
"title": "Object in Focus: Elephant Mask (Bamileke People-Cameroon)",
"description": "Object in Focus: Elephant Mask (Bamileke People-Cameroon). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 1, 1998-January 31, 1999).",
"opening_date": "1998-12-01T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "African art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 20, 2011\u2013October 28, 2013),",
"opening_date": "2011-06-20T04:00:00Z"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "L. Kahan Gallery Inc., New York.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "?\u20131985",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art by purchase",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1985\u2013",
"sortorder": 2
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"did_you_know": "Performers wore elephant masks with indigo-dyed robes, red feather headdresses, and leopard pelts. Leopards and elephants symbolized royal power.",
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"artlens_description": null,
"description": "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\u2019s 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 included a feather headdress",
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"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1985.1082-mask-mbap-mteng-elep"
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},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Dr. Kristen Laciste, \"Elephant Mask (Bamileke Peoples),\" in Smarthistory, June 7, 2023, https://smarthistory.org/elephant-mask-kuosi-society-bamileke-peoples-cameroon/.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "https://smarthistory.org/elephant-mask-kuosi-society-bamileke-peoples-cameroon/"
},
{
"citation": "\"African Dress.\" HALI 224 (Summer 2025): 38-41.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 39, fig. 5",
"url": ""
}
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"updated_at": "2026-05-29 07:51:59.892000"
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