Janushead crest ·  D. R. Congo / Gabon, Mbete · ID: 3035975

Description

wood, light and dark brown patina, koalin, encrusted in some areas, rising from a strong columnar neck with a cuff of animal skin (with remains of fur), carrying a strict geometrical superstructure: disc-shaped coiffure in the middle with box-like projections to both sides, which are carved with the actual mask faces, the faces formed homogeneous, drilled holes on top for attachment of feather ornament, round cavity at the same place, slightly dam., permanent vertical crack on one face, rep. (bow of the coiffure in two places), base;
Mbete tradition housed cult relics within the image destined to guard them. In present case some relics might have been inserted in the deep hole on top or in the bottom. A figural torso might have belonged to the head, where relics were inserted in a cavity in the back. This refers to reliquary figures of other ethnical groups in Gabun, like the Fang, Kota or Mahongwe. The Mbete have their homeland partly in eastern Gabon, partly in the Peoples’s Republic of Congo.

The object Janushead crest with the object ID 3035975 was last part of the auction 75th tribal art auction at November 30, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 426.

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Comparing literature

Siroto, Leon, East of the Atlantic West of the Congo, San Francisco 1995, p. 39 Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich 2009, p. 429