Ancestor figure "éyéma-o-byéri", Ngoumba Style
Sepp Arnemann, Hamburg, Germany (1963)
Lempertz, Brussels, 31 March 2012, lot 76
Description
wood, reddish brown patina, black paint, eyes with mirror glass inlay, characteristics of the Ngoumba Style: rectangular beard and mouth, applications with brass sheet, inventory no. “25.114:5.” on the backside, slightly dam., abrasion of paint (coiffure), small traces of insect caused damage (above all on the backside), rep. (breakage: right forearm/right hand?), base;
the worship of the relics of the family’s illustrious dead is widespread in the whole of Fang country. Present figure served as guardian figure and was fixed on receptacles containing the reliquaries of venerated ancestors. They should remind of the faded person and should prevent people who were not allowed, to have a look into such boxes. They presented a kind of protecting house spirit as well, they should keep away evil and bad spirits. At the moment of ritual, for example propitation or initiation, the skulls, bones and wooden statues were smeared with several different unguents with precise and secret symbolical functions.
Comparing literature
Perrois, Louis, Visions of Africa, Fang, Milan 2006, ill. 8 Perrois, Louis, Arts du Gabon, Arnouville 1979, p. 59 ff.Publications
AHDRC: 0133021