{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund","caption":"Ibrahim Tita Mbohou (1914–1977; active Bamum Kingdom, Cameroon), Bamum Kingdom, Cameroon, Central Africa, Ndam Mandu, mid-20th century. Pen and black ink, colored crayon, and graphite; 64 × 49.5 cm, 78.3 × 62 × 2 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund (2013-6)","cultureterms":[{"id":2041478,"culture":"African"},{"id":2041869,"culture":"Bamum"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2055723,"term":"portraits","aatid":300015637,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2051964,"term":"drawings","aatid":300033973,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2134545,"term":"battles","aatid":300185692,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2087929,"term":"nobility","aatid":300025942,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2055657,"term":"figures (representations)","aatid":300189808,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2158100,"term":"warriors","aatid":null,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2050070,"term":"spears","aatid":300037019,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2129929,"term":"shields (armor)","aatid":300036869,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2050143,"term":"swords","aatid":300037048,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2088270,"term":"men","aatid":300025928,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2041478,"term":"African","aatid":300015647,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2041869,"term":"Bamum","aatid":300100484,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2159868,"term":"geometric patterns","aatid":300165213,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2140945,"term":"pens","aatid":300022452,"termtype":"Tools"},{"id":2044353,"term":"wove paper","aatid":300014187,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2140775,"term":"crayons","aatid":300022415,"termtype":"Tools"},{"id":2162861,"term":"graphite","aatid":300011098,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2167672,"term":"ink","aatid":300015012,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: Africa, Cameroon, Bamum Kingdom","code":"Place made","continent":"Africa","subcontinent":"Central Africa","country":"Cameroon","region":"Bamum Kingdom","state":null,"city":null,"county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/2233387/republic-of-cameroon.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"64.00"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"49.50"},{"element":"frame","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"78.30"},{"element":"frame","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"62.00"},{"element":"frame","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"2.00"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"2013-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":18015,"displayname":"Ibrahim Tita Mbohou","displaydate":"1914–1977; active Bamum Kingdom, Cameroon","datebegin":1914,"dateend":1977,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Ibrahim Tita Mbohou, 1914–1977; active Bamum Kingdom, Cameroon","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":1950,"signed":null,"restrictions":"Restricted","classification":"Drawings","packages":[{"packageid":3342,"name":"web_Faces+Facets"},{"packageid":267983,"name":"Web_CA_2025_African"},{"packageid":278831,"name":"10282025-DAY1-ONVIEW"},{"packageid":197269,"name":"web_highlights -revised 2021"},{"packageid":223066,"name":"Gallery_31_African"},{"packageid":142974,"name":"web_african_holding_culture"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2051964,"classification":"drawings"}],"exhibitions":[{"exhibitionid":1573,"citation":"Faces and Facets, Princeton University Art Museum (July 6–August 18, 2013)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2013-07-06","enddate":"2013-08-18","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/1573"}],"cultures":[],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2013-6"],"displaytitle":"Ndam Mandu","displayculture":null,"displaymaker":"Ibrahim Tita Mbohou, 1914–1977; active Bamum Kingdom, Cameroon","captionhtml":"Ibrahim Tita Mbohou (1914–1977; active Bamum Kingdom, Cameroon), Bamum Kingdom, Cameroon, Central Africa, <i>Ndam Mandu</i>, mid-20th century. Pen and black ink, colored crayon, and graphite; 64 × 49.5 cm, 78.3 × 62 × 2 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund (2013-6)","displaydate":"mid-20th century","medium":"Pen and black ink, colored crayon, and graphite","media":[{"id":107942,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2013-6","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"PUAM photo"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":false,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 160","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2013,\"<em>&nbsp;Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 73 (2014): p. 37-64.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2013,\"<em>&nbsp;Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 73 (2014): p. 37-64., p. 38-39 (illus.)","date":2014,"id":2980,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/61312705"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"African and Oceanic Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199315,"term":"African Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199327,"term":"Prints and Drawings","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1945-present","dateend":1969,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Ndam Mandu","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"© Estate of the artist","objectnumber":"2013-6","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"This drawing depicts Ndam Mandu, an eighteenth-century warrior from the Bamum Kingdom in Cameroon. His physical power and spiritual force are suggested not only by his warrior’s garb, weapons, and strong physique, but also by the calabash (gourd) in the lower right. Bamum kings waged military campaigns to increase the wealth and influence of the kingdom, and calabashes adorned with the jawbones of deceased enemies were paraded to celebrate the return of war heroes. In the early twentieth century, when Bamum Kingdom came under colonial rule, a circle of artists who worked as advisers to Sultan Ibrahim Njoya began drawing to communicate local ideas, stories, and motifs to new Bamum and European audiences. The most successful compositions, such as this one, were frequently reproduced using tracing-paper maquettes that enabled the artworks to circulate widely.\n","remarks":"AFR_31_WLA.pdf - Day 1 installation"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nThis style of drawing, or <I>dessin Bamum</I> (Bamum drawing), originated in the Bamum Kingdom of western Cameroon in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century in the circle of artists and scholars who worked as close advisers to the king, Njoya. Characterized by a central tableau and decorative frieze, <I>dessins Bamum</I> often depict important historical events, rituals, or objects, or, as in this drawing, significant figures in Bamum history. This work depicts Ndam Mandu, a Bamum warrior who played a central role in the conquests that expanded the Bamum Kingdom. Ndam Mandu strides into battle with clothing and accoutrements that establish him as a potent warrior: he carries spears and a shield and wears an embroidered scabbard and a beaded collar, an attribute of noble status. Ndam Mandu’s strength is suggested not only by his attire, but also by his powerful build, dexterous hands, strong feet, and wide-open eyes, all of which are signs of physical or spiritual force. A tall and commanding presence, his potency is also confirmed by two objects depicted above his forward-striding foot: a trophy calabash surmounted by a head, decorated with his deceased enemies’ jawbones, and a gong, also with a head, associated with the leader of the royal army. </P>\r\nUnlike ritual objects, <I>dessins Bamum</I> were intended for sale to Bamum collectors and outsiders. Popular or successful compositions were often preserved and shared among artists using tracing paper maquettes. The maquettes enabled artists to reproduce compositions with precision. The drawings represent a striking visual mode of communicating knowledge about the kingdom’s history, art forms, and culture, which supplement older forms of art that also served as repositories of Bamum history and lore, such as carved and beaded works of art, cloths, and objects of cast and forged metal. </P></SPAN>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Arouna Ndam, Foumban, Cameroon; [Amyas Naegele, New York, NY until 2013]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, 2013.","remarks":null}],"datebegin":1930,"sortnumber":"2013    6","published_date":"2026-02-11 13:26:10.016279","objectid":85691,"dimensions":"64 × 49.5 cm (25 3/16 × 19 1/2 in.)\r\nframe: 78.3 × 62 × 2 cm (30 13/16 × 24 7/16 × 13/16 in.)","on_view":true}