Bamum Beaded Throne (Mandu Yenu)
The Mandu Yenu is the royal throne of the Bamum kingdom of the Cameroon Grassfields, a carved wooden stool and footstool completely encased in glass beads, cowrie shells, and brass studs. Mandu Yenu means 'rich in beads', and the most famous example, made for the Bamum court in the nineteenth century, was given by King Njoya to the German Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1908 and now rests in Berlin; a near-identical copy he commissioned remains in the palace at Foumban. The carving carries royal symbols such as the two-headed snake and the spider of wisdom, while two large figures, the protective twins M