Male reliquary guardian figure "eyema bieri" ·  North Gabon / Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni), Fang - Ntumu region · ID: 3045484

Description

wood, metal/ brass, base

The authenticity of present figure was confirmed by the renowned Fang expert Louis Perrois.
The Ntumu Fang live in northern Gabon and extreme southern Cameroon, as well as in Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni).

Although these figures are associated with human family relics, there is nothing frightening or threatening about them: they show a serene, meditative vision of the ancestors. Nonetheless, the “eyema byeri” used to be feared and were handled with care.

Ntumu artists, through the sometimes astonishing exaggeration of proportions, sought to give symbolic emphasis to important parts of the body: the head, as the seat of vitality; the hands, which pay homage to the spirits of the dead; the protruding navel, a reminder of the link between humans from generation to generation; sexual attributes, male or female, symbolising the fecundity of the lineage.

The object Male reliquary guardian figure “eyema bieri” with the object ID 3045484 was last part of the auction 91 Tribal Art Auction at March 9, 2019 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 281.

You can find more Figures and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.

Expertise

Louis Perrois, 21 July 2011

Comparing literature

Perrois, Louis, Arts du Gabon, Paris 1979, p. 58, ill. 29 Tessmann, Günter, Die Pangwe, Bd. 2, Berlin 1913, p. 115 ff.