NGOUOT BRONZE THRONE
Bronze Royal Throne
Bamoun. Bronze. H: 76 in/194 cm
Provenance: Sculptor Nji Kome; Ex Royal Palace Village Ngouot, Chef Superior Mongbet Vessah Ibrahim du Groupement de Njinka
Only with the ascension of Ibrahim Njoya to the throne in 1886 did the metalworking prowess of the Ngouot tribe finally receive wide recognition in the Bamoun kingdom. The Ngouot had first brought their unique skills to the region centuries before, when the tribe migrated from their native home along the banks of the Nile. Now, in recognition of their artistry, King Njoya helped expand their metalworking operations by relocating their craftsmen to Ma Ngouot, an artisans’ quarter near Foumban. There, specialized “red and black iron” workshops were commissioned by the king to produce hunting weapons—including lances, arrows and firearms—as well as a machine for cracking kola nuts that was designed by the king himself.
This one-of-a-kind bronze throne was cast in 1945 in Ngouot, a neighborhood near Foumban. The creation of this unique piece of Grasslands art and others was part of an effort by King Njimoluh Seidou, eighteenth king of the Bamoun dynasty, to consolidate and strengthen Bamoun culture in the face of renewed economic and cultural suppression in the Grasslands. In 1942, King Seidou issued a public decree establishing Nji Kome as his Royal Foundry Master, a formal recognition of his superb metalworking skills. All the same, the king’s public support for Bamoun art and artisans during this period—the early years of World War II—was not without risk, given the uncertain political future of the colony. In the first days of the war, Cameroon, a former German possession, was annexed by the pro-German Vichy government in France, which sought to use its raw materials to aid the German war effort. In response, Free French forces led by General LeClerc invaded and seized control of the colony, thereby aligning Cameroon with the broader Allied effort to defeat the Axis.
Seidou’s decree of 1942 encouraged metal workers and other artisans to pool their creative efforts under the banner of Bamoun art. In the final days of the global conflagration of World War II, Njikam Amidou Ngouo, the local Ngouot leader, joined Master Nji Kome and other skilled workers in creating the royal throne, an altogether unique masterpiece of the bronze worker’s art. Nji Kome, in keeping with his craft and skill, directed the casting and engraving of this remarkable bronze piece, to memorialize the great Bamoun Kingdom and its influence across the Grasslands.
The throne remained in the Ngouot Royal Palace from the time of its creation.
Chief Mongbet Vessah Ibrahim and David W. Reed
