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.

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