Not Currently On View in Intersections

Object Name: Drinking horn
Cultural Group: Bamum peoples
Place of Origin: Cameroon
Date: 19th century
Materials Used: Horn and pigment
Dimensions: H: 29.5 cm, W: 13.5 cm, D: 9.5 cm (H: 11.6 in, W: 5.3 in, D: 3.7 in)
Credit Line and Accession Number: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Peter J. Kuhn. X91.410

Drinking horns with detailed depictions of royal retainers are among the most important articles in the treasury of a Grassfields fon (king). The fon used these finely carved objects for drinking palm wine, the beverage of choice for all important social and ritual occasions. One king is known to have kept sixteen drinking horns in his treasury, each associated with a previous fon. The ensemble thus constituted a dynastic record.

Gallery text, Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, 2006