Isaac Samuel

Themes in west African art: Cartography, Architecture, History, and Culture in the Graphic arts of the Bamum kingdom. (Patreon)

Published:

2024-07-21 10:17:21

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2026-06

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Much of our perception of African art in general, and west African art in particular, is dominated by the sculptural art forms produced across virtually all societies on the continent, from the famous Bronze plaques of Benin to the ubiquitous Dogon masks and wood carvings that fill the shelves of many Museums.

However, a number of west African art traditions also included many equally remarkable two-dimensional art forms, especially in the form of illuminated manuscripts and drawings which constitute an important visual document of the region's history.

Begining in the first decade of the 20th century, the artists of the Bamum kingdom in western Cameroon translated pre-existing artforms onto a new medium; paper, and produced many remarkable drawings that were utilised in cartography, the composition of royal histories, architectural design, and documenting daily life in the kingdom.

This article explores the graphic arts of the Bamum kingdom during the early 20th century and includes more than 30 drawings made by the kingdom's artists.

Bamum artworks from the early 20th century at the Quai Branly museum, including architectural drawings, a map of the city of Fumban, and an illustration of 'the flight to Egypt'.

Brief background on the history of the Bamum kingdom.

Founded between the 16th and 17th century by King Nchare among the Bamileke speaking peoples of the Grass-fields region of western Cameroon, the kingdom of Bamum is one of africa's best known pre-colonial states, and was home to some of the continent's most distinctive art traditions.

The kingdom attained its height during the reign of King Njoya (r. 1887-1933), who formed alliances with the Muslim Fulbe of Adamawa inorder to restore his throne, and later adopted several Islamic influences that were syncretized with traditional practices of the Bamileke of Bamum to produce a dynamic array of cultural and political institutions that would survive well into the early colonial period when Bamum was considered a protectorate of the Germans and later of the French.

With the support of a team of talented figures in the kingdom's administration, king Njoya introduced a number of innovations in Bamum society that would characterize most accounts of his reign, including; the invention of the Bamum script and its extensive associated literature (from historiography to pharmacopeia), a new religion/philosophy, as well as new styles of architecture, sculptural art and textile design.

Location of the Bamum Kingdom.

Sultan Ibrahim Njoya (left) and his younger counsin also named Ibrahim Njoya (right), 1911, Basel Misison archives

The emergence of the tradition of Graphic arts in the Bamum kingdom during the reign of king Njoya.

Among the vast corpus of artistic and literally innovations that were created during Njoya's reign was the production of painted and illustrated manuscripts containing numerous depictions of Bamileke architecture, cartography, history and culture during the early 20th century. The kings of Bamum were main patron of the arts, and all inventions were considered inspired by them, and often reflected their vision of the world. One of King Njoya's predecessors, King Mbuembue (ca. 1820–1840), who is credited with expanding the early kingdom, also brought in many artists from across the region to the royal court, who excelled in carving, beadworking, and bronze casting.

(Représentation de soi dans les dessins pg 6-7, Portraiture and Photography in Africa pg 214-215)

The gradual invention of a written script in Bamum across three decades between 1895 and 1910 involved the transfer of symbols from the vast iconographic corpus appearing across Bamum's material culture such as textiles, sculptural art, and craftsworks, onto a new medium, ie: paper manuscripts written with charcoal and ink.

These early manuscripts, which featured a visually striking calligraphy, were often embellished with ornamentation and abstract design elements, as well as patterned borders colorful patterns, hatching and dashes. The increased usage of Bamum script eventually facilitated the emergence of drawing as a distinct art form, as pre-existing forms of representational drawing in Bamum material culture were transferred to the medium of paper.

(Visual Arts in Cameroon pg 50-52, Représentation de soi dans les dessins pg 8, 12)

Chronicle of the Bamum kingdom, written in 1900, Archives du Palais des Rois Bamum, Fumban, Cameroon

The creation of Bamum drawings on paper typically involved the superimposition of three triple graphic forms; the figurative register (eg Potraits), the iconographic (eg frames and symbols), and the written (Bamum script). All these forms were derived from pre-existing forms of visual arts in the kingdom, especially the patterns of the Ndop/Ntieya textiles, which often featured old and new motifs associated with Bamileke representations of the world and royal power.

The meaning of each motif seems corroborated by the meaning preserved by the first version of Bamum writing, with a palace in the central space, its framed by the 'crocodile bark' representing the territories of the king's descendants, and on the sides by a diamond pattern known as the leopard or panthers eyespots, and designating the extent of Royal power. The ntieya represents a schematic form of cartography of the kingdom, it was used to demarcate the royal space and enhance the sacred character of King. It was often placed behind the king during major events such as festivals and funerals, and also formed part of the king's burial shroud.

(Représentation de soi dans les dessins pg 10-12)

Ndop textile from Fumban, early 20th century, Portland museum.

Plate of decorative motifs, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1930, Museum of Ethnography, Geneva.

This plate represents iconographic motifs used for sculpture, dyeing or beading. Some of the motifs concern the human body and royal objects (line 2), but the majority refer to animals. Some themes evoke divination (tarantulas, tortoiseshells, chicken intestines). Their shape specifies the associated meanings: quadrangular signs, territory; circular, royal space (palace, city, markets); diamond-shaped, hierarchies and social rank.

The development of drawing and painting on paper can be traced back to the first decade of the twentieth century. The precursors to works on paper were line drawings in the sand, documented as early as 1908 by German visitors to the kingdom, and there's evidence that drawing was practiced at Njoya's palace school. Several sheets from Fumban in the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin acquired in 1908, seem to be related to later genre drawings. They depict Bamum customs and material culture, showing a noble person being carried in a hammock, drinking horns, raffia bags, and various styles of headdresses.

(Portraiture and Photography in Africa pg 226)

Drawings by pupils in King Njoya’s school, 1911. From Vollbehr 1912, 99, private collection.

Cartography in the Bamum kingdom during the reign of King Njoya.

From 1908 to 1930, the artists and scholars of King Njoya produced and curated numerous maps, which depicted the kingdom of Bamum. Like other forms of Bamum visual arts reproduced on paper, the inception and development was the work of a small and dedicated group of loyal retainers, among them Nji Mama Pekuekue (ca. 1880–1954), his brother Ibrahim Njoya (ca. 1887–1966), and Kpümie Pinu.

At a time when most european maps of the region represented the Bamum kingdom as a blank space, the mapmakers of Bamum launched their own cartographic venture that transformed the abstract representations of the kingdom appearing on the Ndop textiles into maps.

(Portraiture and Photography in Africa pg 223-224, La cartographie du roi Njoya pg 193, Maps and Colours pg 164-167)

The cartographers of Bamum drew inspiration from multiple sources, including early Muslim and Christian missionaries in Bamum, colonial officials, and the rich west African heritage of cartographic expression. While they obtained their materials from external sources, the cartographers of Bamum reproduced local motifs, toponyms and colour schemes, thus creating a new mapmaking style that was unique to their society.

(La cartographie du roi Njoya pg 188-189, Maps and Colours pg 167-168)

The first map was drawn in 1916 by Njoya's cartographers during a period a transition when the German were nearly defeated, and Njoya was requesting protectorate status from Britain through a royal letter attached with the map. This map reveals how Njoya engaged in political discourse with cartographic means, but encoded the actual information on the map using his own script, legend, orientation and colour scheme that the British would have been unfamiliar with, thus intentionally concealing cartographic knowledge to his erstwhile allies.

(Map and Colour pg 168-169)

King Njoya's Map of Bamum, 1916, The National archives, Kew/London.

The second map was drawn in 1920 during the early period of Bamum's occupation by the French, a time when the mapmakers were searching for their own cartographic language. The map is oriented to the west with the red sun rising from below along with the moon and stars, its flanked by two emblems on the right and left refering to the rainy seasons moving the clouds from south to north. The contrast between the blank area at the center with a shaded mountains and forests near the capital, and the crowded frontier expresses the capital-periphery opposition. Its also representative of the prevailing political landscape, where Bamum was threatened with formal colonization and thus sought to connect its pre-colonial past.

(La cartographie du roi Njoya pg 191-193, Maps and Colours pg 172-174)

Map of the Bamum Kingdom, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1920, Museum of Ethnography, Geneva.

Officially produced for better management of land disputes as part of a broader modernization program, it also materializes Bamum sovereignty in the face of the colonial administration. Oriented West-East, the map is at the crossroads of two perceptions of space.

The surveys for this map were carried out in 1912 and then in 1920 by about twenty people led by the king. The team invented its topographical standards to identify villages, markets, or borders. Notes in Bamum writing specify the ordering of space and the world. The map reproduces a perception of the quadrangular inhabited territory, organized around the palace, located in the heart of an oversized capital.

Smaller maps were also commisioned by the king, such as this map of his farm

Map of Plan of king Njoya's farm with writings in the Bamum script, early 20th century, Bibliothèque du Défap, USC Library.

The Cartographers and artists of the Bamum kingdom: Ibrahim Njoya and Ibrahim Tita Mbhou.

While the kingdom was formally occupied in 1924, and King Njoya was forced to move into exile in the colonial capital Yaounde the same year, Bamum cartography and art would continue without Njoya's patronage, especially under the guidance of his younger cousin, also named Ibrahim Njoya (1887-1962) and the lesser known figure of Ibrahim Tita Mbhou.

Ibrahim Njoya (b. 1890 d. 1962), a cousin of King Njoya was the preeminent artist in the kingdom and the leading figure in the Bamum school of art, alongside other artists such as Ibrahim Tita Mbhou (b. 1914- d. 1977). King Njoya had established atleast forty schools active in the kingdom before the French banned them in 1924, not including a handful of mission schools where some Bamum elites also attended. Art was among the various subjects taught at the Bamum schools, and Ibrahim Njoya is known to have been the head of one such school in 1908.

These artists used resolved ashes, natural pigments, imported ink, as well as crayons, watercolour, and gouaches. Their drawings included historic battle scenes, royal portraits, architectural plans, fables, calendars and encyclopaedic panels, were largely influenced by traditional Bamum art (eg sculpture, wood carvings and daily life), as well as photographs. A few also show influences of islamic minatures and colonial drawings.

(Visual arts in Cameroon pg 53)

In his 1930 map, the younger Ibrahim revived the historical capital with his city map, on which he named and highlighted the strength of past fortifications (red line), ditches (red points), earthworks (black dots), at a time when the city wall had lost its primary function. The map also includes the names of the former residences of deceased royals and the mission school he attended, but place less emphasis on rivers, which were by then no longer seen as marking important frontiers.

(Maps and Colours pg 174)

Geographic map of Foumban, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1930, Museum of Ethnography, Geneva.

Generally oriented towards the south-east, the different known versions of the map of the capital are distinguished by the details given to the different constituent elements of the inhabited space (royal palace, rivers and bridges, limits of the princely lineages and the eight large districts of the city) organized around the heart of the city, the Nshut mfon palace, represented by an underlined square. The capital is surrounded by ditches (nsom) shown in red, dug by different sovereigns.

A similar map of Fumban re-appears in a larger drawing by Ibrahim Tita Mbohou along with various scenes of daily life in Bamum. Tita Mbohou was one of the apprentices of Ibrahim Njoya, and is credited with a number of drawings that contain the signature of his tutor. Its been suggested that not all drawings attributed to Ibrahim Njoya were made by him but were instead made by students under his supervision.

(Représentation de soi dans les dessins pg 45)

Three tales with a map Fumban and handwritten captions, attributed to Ibrahim Tita Mbohou, early 20th century, Fumban, Quai Branly

The painting consists of three groups of vignettes in the upper part plus a map of the capital city, Foumban, in the lower part. In the upper register from left to right: tale "The Civet and the Leopard" (5 vignettes), tale "The Toad and the Kite" (5 vignettes) and tale "Mofuka and the Lion" (4 vignettes)

Under each group is a text in Bamum scriptframed by a colored border (arrow motif), probably a summarized presentation of the tale. The drawing at the bottom represents a map of Foumban. These four elements were commissioned by King Njoya dating from 1916-1918 but may have been drawn later, from tracings.

The history and kings of Bamum in Bamileke drawings.

Depictions of past Bamum king in sequenced order and depictions of battle scenes such as the civil war during Njoya's early reign, are some of the most frequent subjects in the art of Ibrahim Njoya and Tita Mhou. Such scenes often incoporated other images as separate panels.

The art historian Christraud Geary asserts that the Bamum drawings of royalty and battle scenes were a pictorial tool to affirm dynastic lineage and implement an official Bamum history at a moment of confrontation with the European intruders as well as internal power struggles.

The “kings list” compositions may also have been partly inspired by German propaganda/memorabilia which presented portraits of Kaiser Wilhelm and his family arranged in vignettes or panels. But while these German versions were stiff and formal, Bamum royal paintings create a dynamic interaction between lively portraits of the kings, depicting their heads as inclined at diverse angles with their gazes leading in different directions.

(Portraiture and Photography in Africa pg 227-230)

Portraits of the Bamoun kings from Nchare to Njimoluh Seidou, attribute to Ibrahim Tita Mbohou and Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1937, Quai branly

King Ibrahim Njoya is depicted seated on the large beaded throne with double male and female figures called Mandu Yenu, currently preserved at the Foumban Palace, placed in front of the porch of the palace built between 1917 and 1923: visible steps behind the throne, pillars on the sides, balustrades, door with star and crescent moon, birds, inscription in Bamum script in the center of the lintel, and a second on the wall to the left.

He is surrounded by other attributes of royalty such as a Ntieya textile in the background, to his left is a double royal Munjumndu bell, to his right, is a large anthropomorphic beaded bowl pipe, next to it, is a ceremonial spear supporting a small bag containing elements of royal power. he holds in his hand a sword with a scabbard in worked leather and a book in Bamum script in its leather cover. The king wears clothing of composite inspiration, with a tunic embroidered with Bamum iconographic motifs. At the bottom of the throne is a cartouche of Bamum writing.

The four vignettes framing the portrait of King Njoya, represent for the two upper ones: on the right, Njoya's father, Nsangu, always represented in profile holding a bundle of spears on a background in ntieya and on the left Njoya's successor, Njmoluh, depicted young, in so-called "Muslim" clothing (embroidered gandoura, cape, turban) in front of a double ntieya hanging, representing the palace porch. In the two lower vignettes, two rows of 5 horsemen, swords or lances drawn in the palace courtyard, paying homage to the king. In the verandas of the palace, 6 notables (3 on each side) attend the demonstration.

The graphic treatment of these vignettes (notables, King Nsangu) deviates from the previous drawings by Ibrahim Njoya, suggesting the intervention of another designer; Ibrahim Tita Mbohou who was a student of Ibrahim and from whose collection this was derived.

The artists executed multiple versions of these themes on commission, basing them on precise pencil sketches which served as templates, and finished the works with Ink, watercolor and colored pencils. One of the most striking elements of the paints was the extensive use of patterning and elaborate ornamental borders derived from textile designs. The borders function both as ornamentation and as an addition to the complexity of the artist’s narrative systems with particular patterns and animal imagery carrying specific cultural significance.

(Visual Arts in Cameroon pg 53)

Portraits of seventeen Bamum kings, from Nshare Yen to Njoya, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1930, Museum of Ethnography, Geneva

The king stands on the steps of the palace, in front of the royal ntieya textile which is the spatio-temporal representation of royal power and the elephant tusks, symbol of his wealth and his control of undomesticated spaces. At his feet, the double beaded bell munjemdu , reserved for the sovereign, and one of the bags "of the country" containing attributes of power. The king holds in his hand his book of the history of the kingdom, he is surrounded by his closest servants represented as horsemen, among whom the designer himself. Two other sovereigns stand out: at the top right, the great conquering king Mbuembue; below and in profile, King Nsangu, father of Njoya, to whom the latter lends his features.

Portraits of Bamum kings attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, early 20th century, Quai Branly.

Portrait of King Mbuembue (Mbuombuo) surrounded by several geometric patterns and royal motifs that form a frame elaborate octagonal shape

Portrait of King Mengap surrounded by a frame drawn in black ink, octagonal in shape with stylized zoomorphic motifs

Portraits alignés de 18 rois bamum, attributed to Ibrahim Tita Mbhou, Private collection.

Gbetnkom Ndombu Civil War, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1930, Museum of Ethnography, Geneva.

This depicts one of the episodes of the civil war led by Gbetnkom Ndombu against King Njoya (around 1894). After the death of King Nsangu and during Njoya's childhood, this great servant had become influential with the queen mother. He left Foumban for Manga and led princes in his quest for power. Besieged and starving, the young king was forced to seek help from neighboring peoples, including the Peulhs of Banyo, to fight against the traitors. Their efficiency impressed the Bamum and aroused their curiosity for Islam.

In this illustration of the battle of Manga, the supporters of the fallen minister are colored in gray, those of the king in beige. The drawing places the king's followers in an advantageous position - but not their allies on horseback. The Bamum warriors carry the usual array of weapons: bundle of spears, machetes, bag of protective medicines, sometimes a horn or a calling bell.

King Kuoutou being carried to War against the Manguot, attributed to Ibrahim Tita M’bohou, ca. 1930, Cleveland Art Museum.

This drawing depicts a procession of men and women carrying the ruler Koutou (reigned late 17th–early 18th centuries) in a palanquin. Distinctive headgear and garments identify the courtiers and warriors, as does the hierarchical scale of figures. Drawn by M'bohou in the 1930s, it depicts the lead-up to the Bamum Kingdom’s war against the Manguot.

Culture and Society of Bamum in pictures.

Artefacts at the Museums of Bamum

Among the most celebrated works of Bamum painting were the "encyclopaedic panels" of Ibrahim Njoya. These were composed during the critical period of transition of the kingdom from German to French rule, when King Njoya's authority was contested by his rival Mosé Yeyap, who arranged for the movement of the royal regalia from the palace to the newly founded Musée des Arts et des Traditions Bamoun.

King Njoya was displaced from his court in Foumban to the colonial capital Yaounde 1924 where he'd die in 1933, so too would Mosé Yeyap in 1941 after he had betrayed by his erstwhile French allies that installed a son of Njoya named Seydou, instead of him.

According to the art historians Loupet-Galitzine and Annette Schemmel, King Njoya and Mosé Yeyap are both equally likely to have commissioned these panels, since they catered to the different parties’ desire for political influence in the old kingdom.

(Visual arts in Cameroon pg 57-59)

Plate of objects, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1930, Museum of Ethnography, Geneva.

This work presents sacred objects made by specialized lineages on royal commission. It was probably the subject of a European commission.

The artist Ibrahim Njoya organized the objects according to their uses and their owners: headdresses of kings or princes, musical instruments and masks of secret societies frame the ntieya fabric in which the kings were buried seated. Below, pipes, necklaces and oversized seats evoke King Mbuembue, great in size and conquests; on the right, the alphabet, the royal seal and the manuscripts present the writing invented by King Njoya around 1896. The regalia were kept at the palace and worn on rare public occasions.

Musicians of a secret society, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1930, Museum of Ethnography, Geneva.

These musicians belong to a secret Bamum society, perhaps that of the king's great servants, Mbansié, because of the bell bags and double gongs. The number of participants and the variety of instruments indicate an important event. Ritualized dances and songs of competing brotherhoods were regular at the Foumban palace and the opportunities for entertainment were all the more frequent as King Njoya invented new choreographies.

Depictions of Bamilleke architecture in Bamum manuscripts.

Among the most common depictions of Bamum society in art were the illustrations of King Njoya's old palace, which was considered the center of the kingdom and the village of the king. Early depictions of Njoya's palace were typically executed on the Ndop textiles (see introduction) in an abstract form that only showed an outline of the building and its roof.

Drawings that combine the plan of the palace and its elevation appeared shortly after such textiles, and were typically accompanied by Bamum writings depicting the scale used in the drawing. Later drawings would include images of non-elite Bamileke houses in Fumban, with accompanied text that included measurements of construction materials used. Its likely that Ibrahim Njoya made some of these drawings, as he was involved in the KIng's architectural projects including the construction of his last palace between 1917-1924 after the old palace shown in these illustrations had burned down.

(Art, Observation and an Anthropology of Illustration pg 88-89)

The Palace of the Bamum kings, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1927-1930, private collection.

Three Illustrious kings and a Queen before the Old Foumban Palace, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1961, Cleveland Art Museum

This drawing depicts Sultan Njoya and his ancestors in front of the old Bamum Kingdom palace: King Mbombo “the Giant” (r. 1757–1814); Queen Ngoungore (r. 1863); King Nsa’ngu (r. 1863–1889); and Sultan Njoya (r. 1889–1913). Each past ruler wears or holds elaborate regalia, such as staffs, necklaces, headpieces, and fly whisks. Sultan Njoya (at right) wears a turban and a large embroidered tunic, reflecting his conversion to Islam.

Drawings of Houses and House plans with description of construction in the Bamum script, attributed to Ibrahim Tita Mbohou, early 20th century, Quai Branly.

Upper register: building in elevation and plan. The eight-sided roof is covered with thatch. Under the roof, a chevron line indicates the location of friezes, sometimes decorated with symbolic motifs. The design is done in four colors. Under the elevation, an inscription in Bamum and a plan indicating the openings. This form is generally reserved for the head of the lineage.

Lower register, left: elevation of a round dwelling with a conical roof covered with thatch. Under the roof, a chevron line indicates the location of friezes, sometimes decorated with symbolic motifs. Dwelling treated in five colors. Below, plan with indication of openings. Next to it, bottom right, a square dwelling with a four-sided roof with thatched covering. Under the roof, a grid pattern indicates the location of friezes, sometimes decorated with symbolic motifs. Under this elevation, square plan with mention of openings, generally reserved for women of the lineage chief or to the free Bamoun. Inscriptions in Bamoun under the two elevations.

residence of the queen mother of the Bamum kingdom, ca. 1908, Cameroon, state museums, Berlin

Depictions of Bamileke artisans and daily life.

These drawings typically reproduce scenes of daily life in Bamileke culture

Plate of artisans, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1930, Museum of Ethnography, Geneva.

Each panel depicts Bamum people engaged in a different craft or work activity -- iron-working, farming, house-building, farming, basketry, etc. Njoya stages the artisans’ activities in appropriate locations, with their materials and tools clearly depicted, so the whole gives us a detailed overview of traditional daily economic life, presented at an historical moment of rapid change in Bamum society and culture.

Activities and scenes from life with titles, attributed to Mosé Yeyap, early 20th century, Quai Branly.

Drawing divided into 9 registers, with differently colored backgrounds, which show scenes from daily life whose titles are written in French, in capital letters: market, war, sculptor, childbirth, vine (winemaker), lion hunt, fight, heritage, farmers.

(this drawing was likely made for his museum that was open to non-Bamileke visitors like the Europeans, hence the French writings)

entrance to the Museum of Fumban, ca. 1933, Bamum kingdom, Cameroon, SMB museum

Depictions of Bamileke traditional stories

these drawings typically reproduce images of popular fables in Bamileke culture.

Plate drawn in twelve vignettes, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya and Ibrahim Tita Mbohou, ca. 1937, Quai Branly.

Plate composed of twelve vignettes forming a story drawn and captioned in Bamum script, about the tale of the rat and her four raccoons.

Plate of the three tales, attributed to Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1930, Museum of Ethnography, Geneva.

The Tale of the Leopard and the Civet, Tale of the Frog and the Kite, Tale of Mofuka and the Lion.

Images of Christian and Muslim themes in Bamum painting.

While the Bamum kingdom had long been familiar with Islam coming from the northern regions where it had been established several centuries prior, King Njoya only formally adopted the faith in the late 19th century after receiving military assistance from a govenor of the Adamawa emirate (part of the Sokoto caliphate).

The arrival of Christian missionaries around 1902 introduced a new religion into Bamum, that was also briefly adopted by Njoya before he discarded both faiths in favour of his own religion "nuǝt nkuǝtǝ" (Pursue to Attain), which combined traditional Bamileke belief systems with Abrahamic religions, and for which he wrote a book in 1916. Njoya would later return to Islam close to the end of his kingdom's autonomy in the 1920s.

(African Crossroads pg 157-163)

Its likely that the religious traditions of Njoya's courtiers reflected those of their king. Some, like Ibrahim Njoya, were familiar with Christianity, having attended a mission school during his youth before he became the head of King Njoya's palace school. The younger Njoya is also known to have made some illustrations on the covers of bibles with geometric motifs, similar to most students of his class.

(Visual arts in Cameroon pg 54)

None of the surviving drawings of these students however, resemble the sophisticated religious scenes in the corpus of Bamum drawings at the Quai Branly museum. With the exception of the "flight from Egypt" scene, many of them are concerned with themes in early Islam including the prophet Muhammad's ascention and scenes of from the Hilali epic (ie: 'Sirat Bani Hilal' on the Arab migrations to North africa during the 11th century ).

Unlike the artworks described above that are accompanied by writing in the Bamum scripts and were intended for a local audience, these drawings are accompanied by writings in Arabic and French indicating that they were likely made for European buyers. They neverthless feature typical motifs seen in other Bamum artworks, proving that they were made by an artist in Fumban who had been shown Islamic minatures of the famous epics, albeit one that remains unknown since they haven't been studied yet.

The Flight into Egypt, unattributed, Quai Branly.

The scene depicts a veiled woman holding a small child in her arms. She sits on a donkey led by a man who holds a series of spears in his left hand and indicates a direction with a red stick. The scene takes place in a hilly landscape, framed by pink and yellow geometric patterns outlined in black ink.

Epic of the Hilalians towards Africa, unattributed, early 20th century, Quai Branly.

Version 1, Version 2

click this link to see a Similar drawing from 1920 by an non-African artist.

Battle scene with horsemen from the Hilal epic, unattributed, early 20th century, Quai Branly.

For a similar drawing by a non-African artist, see this undated image.

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For the Bamileke depiction of the Miraj (ascention) of the Prophet Muhammad (where the angel Gabriel transports Mahomed to seventh heaven) see this link

See a similar drawing by a 16th century Persian artist And by an 18th century Mughal artist

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Bamum art after king Njoya and his artists.

The tradition of Bamileke painting and other forms of visual arts would continue long after the demise of king Njoya and the first generation of artists like Ibrahim Njoya and Tita Mbohou. The son of the latter, known as Ismaël Tita Mbohou (b. 1952) would also became a famous artist who preserved many of the collections now found at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, as well as those in the Fumban Museum in Cameroon.

A few artists active in Fumban continue to produce artworks in this distinctive art style, painting the walls of the abandoned palace of king Njoya, and contributing to the rich artistic heritage of west Africa.

The Return of King Nchare's Head, attributed to Ismaël Tita Mbohou, late 20th century, Quai Branly.

"The scene evokes the return of Njimonshare to Njimom, the first capital of the Bamun kingdom, carrying the skull of Nshare Yen in his bag. The Bamum kingdom founder, King Nshare had decided to return to Rifum, his village of origin, to take on the attributes linked to his new status. This return was not a happy one, when he was recognized by his family, he was put to death. In the foreground, Njimonshare with a tense face returns to Njimom, carrying the severed head of Nshare in a woven raffia bag on his back holding a branch of the shrub called "the tree of peace" (also in the bag). He is greeted by two groups of motionless men and a group that approaches him, all showing in shock (hands on their heads, arms raised) and lamenting."