Eugen Zintgraff was the first European to enter the Kom kingdom in 1889 as he followed the German army’s incursion into Cameroon’s Grasslands. The German explorer’s 40-year sejour in Kom was marked, first, by imprisonment and controversy that later, under Fon Yu (1865-1912), was replaced by hospitality and cooperation.
During his extended stay, Zintgraff befriended the Honorable Ngnakoue Anicet from the neighboring village of Bandjoun, located in the Bamileke region of the Grasslands. On his departure from Cameroon in 1933, the explorer sold the Afo-A-Kom to Notable Anicet and his family that guarded the piece for the better part of a century.
Made between 1889 and 1905, this Afo-A-Kom was made for a high-ranking Kom noble who used the statue as an expression of unity and social stability in exercising his authority. The piece is unique in that presents both the nobleman and his wife, rather than honoring a single individual as do most of the oldest Afo-A-Kom statues. The statue was used by highest levels of Kom hierarchy to celebrate the crowning of new village chiefs, to sanctify funeral ceremonies of powerful members of Kom society, and to bring blessings to celebrations.
The century-old statue was wrapped with locally produced cloth that was then woven with white and black beads covering the two torsos. The faces were covered with rolled bronze plating while their crowns were adorned with cowry shells. A powerful panther provides the base for the two figures. The passage of decades since its creation is evidenced in the deterioration of the underlying cloth as well as in degradation of the wooden base.
