Cameroon/SW Chad
Kotoko

Bronze bell / lost wax casting
Mid 20th Century
Height: 16 inches
Idiophone-Struck Directly – Metal Bell

This Kotoko equestrian figurative  bell shows a Sudan warrior on his horse holding a spear, atop an ancestral head bell.  It was made following the lost wax process. Most of the Kotoko are Sunni Muslims, but some belong to other Islam sects. Only slightly more than 10% of the population is Evangelical.   The modern Kotoko, a fishing people on the Chari near Lake Chad, are descendants of the Sao, who formerly lived in this region. This mounted warrior wears a detailed wrapped headdress and is cast in bronze. It possibility served as a funerary memorial bell.