Ceremonial Bag

Insignia for a Member of a Secret Society
Bamoun people, Cameroon Grasslands 

Early 20th century
Raffia, plain weave, embroidery, knotting, braiding, tassels 

Hidden within an extraordinary nubby surface that evokes raised cicatrization welts, a pair of lizards suggest the ritualistic and cultic associations of this mysterious bag.

In the Grassland chiefdoms,  a certain style of raffia bags embellished with thick tufting was the prerogative of men and women of high status – the Fon, the paramount ruler, members of the royal family and other notables such as courtiers, chiefs, and political  emissaries. Bags with tufted designs also identifed members of the secret societies. 

Alastair and Venice Lamb state that bags decorated with the stylized lizard emblem designated initiates of the supreme Nwaa Nkwe society.