Encyclopedia
Glossary of ritual art.
Precise vocabulary is the first condition of a sound gaze. Here are the terms most often met in Central African ritual art.
Work in progress. These definitions are general reference points, written to be clear.
1
- 1970 UNESCO Convention
- International treaty on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property.
A
- Age (antiquity)
- Presumed age of an object. It is established by a body of evidence (material, workmanship, patina, documents) and rarely by a single proof.
- Attribution
- Assigning a work to a culture, region, workshop or hand. The report states its degree of certainty.
- Authenticity
- The quality of an object being what it claims to be: produced by the culture indicated, in the period stated, for the supposed use.
C
- Caryatid
- A human figure that supports an element: seat, stool, vessel. Luba caryatid stools are a well-known example.
- Charge (or magical charge)
- A substance or set of elements placed in a cavity or attached to a sculpture to give it efficacy. It is part of the object.
- Commissioned object
- An object made for an outside patron — colonist, dealer, collector — rather than for the community’s own use.
- Composite object
- A piece assembling elements from different objects or different periods.
- Corpus
- A set of documented, published pieces used as a reference for comparing an object.
- Crest
- A sculpted element worn on top of the head or fixed above a mask.
F
- Fon
- Title of the sovereign in several Grassfields kingdoms. The term is used with its local variants.
G
- Grassfields
- The highlands of western Cameroon, home to several kingdoms and chiefdoms (Bamum, Bamileke, Bangwa, Tikar…).
H
- Helmet mask
- A mask covering the whole head, as opposed to a face mask.
I
- Initiation society
- An association with controlled admission, holding specific knowledge, roles and objects.
K
- Kifwebe
- A type of striated mask of the Songye and Luba societies.
L
- Lost-wax casting
- A founding technique: a wax model is coated in clay, the melted wax is replaced by molten metal.
- Lukasa
- A Luba memory board, covered with beads or signs, aiding the transmission of narratives and genealogies.
M
- Maternity figure
- A female figure shown with a child. A frequent theme in Central African statuary.
N
- Ndop
- A resist-dyed indigo cloth associated with the courts of western Cameroon.
- Nkisi (pl. minkisi)
- A power object from the Kongo region, charged with substances and meant to act. The term designates both the figure and its function.
P
- Patina
- Change to an object’s surface through time, use, handling, offerings or deliberate applications.
- Polychromy
- Decoration in several colours. Pigments are clues to material and function.
- Provenance
- The history of an object’s successive owners, from its origin to today.
R
- Raffia
- A fibre drawn from palm fronds, used for cloth and objects in Central Africa.
- Reliquary figure
- A sculpture associated with guarding ancestral remains, notably among the Fang and Kota.
- Restoration
- Intervention on an object to repair, consolidate or complete it. It should be documented.
S
- Scarification
- Decorative incision of the skin; represented on sculptures by engraved or raised motifs.
- Statuary
- The set of freestanding sculptures of a culture or region.
For a broader approach: Central African ritual art and library.
Frequently asked questions
Going further
Are the definitions exhaustive?
No: they give a first reference point. The glossary grows over time and flags debated terms.
Can I suggest a correction?
Yes, via the contact page: remarks from researchers and community members are welcome.
Next step
A question the glossary does not cover?
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