ROYAL DOOR
Royal Wooden Door
Bamoun. Wood, bronze castings. H: 91 in/231 cm
Provenance: Sculptor Jozue Mounchili; Ex Royal Palace Village Ngouot, Chef Superior Mongbet Vessah Ibrahim du Groupment de Njinka
King Njoya regularly commissioned royal craftsmen to produce decorative relief carvings on doors, window shutters, and other spaces throughout the Royal Palace. Carvings by Amadou Mfunsie and Ibrahim Njoya highlighting important moments in Bamoun history, including battle scenes, were often used to adorn King Njoya’s palace and other buildings. This royal door, created during King Seidou’s reign, continues that tradition. It was carved, and its metal figures were cast, in the 1960s by Jozue Mounchili, one of the sculptors of the Royal Palace.
The upper and lower scenes depict the traditional funeral dance conducted on the occasion of the death of a notable person. These circular scenes portray drummers, dancers, food bearers, musicians, and other celebrants dancing in the foreground of a communal setting framed by trees and hamlets.
The central scene evokes the power of nature in communal life. The highly detailed bronze casting of a lion is situated at the very center of the door, affirming the power of the region’s most feared animal. The lion is encompassed by carved elephants, water buffalos, the iconic two-headed snake, and gongs used in village ceremonies. The outermost ring of the door’s central scene incorporates the bronze likenesses of eighteen local notables who occupied important positions
in village life.
Surrounding the three scenes on the door’s periphery are the sculpted figures of fourteen musicians who provide the music for the ceremony. They are interspersed with thirty carved village scenes, along with ceremonial pipes, gongs, musical instruments, and revered animals.
The door was held previously in the Ngouot Royal Palace from the time of its creation.
Chief Mongbet Vessah Ibrahim and David W. Reed
