Rare ancestor shrine · Gabon, Fang · ID: 3041883

Name: Rare ancestor shrine
SKU: 3041883
Availability: Discontinued

not available anymore

Provenance

French Private Collection, Paris

Size

H: 59 cm

H: 23.2 inch

Description

light wood, brown patina, black paint, kaolin, pillar-shaped post rising from disc-shaped base, head piece carved with four mask-like faces, each two of them nearly identical in design: large and round or small and oval in form, at which even the dotted and grooved tattoos widely correspond, slightly dam. (each of the four noses), strong abrasion of paint, cracks, traces of old age, base;
probably used in connection with the “byeri”- ancestral cult. The faces are whitened and among the Fang, white is the colour of ancestral spirits. Reminding of the multi-faced “ngontang” masks, depicting “young white women”, who are believed to have supernatural powers.

The object Rare ancestor shrine with the object ID 3041883 was last part of the auction 85th Tribal Art Auction at March 4, 2017 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 329.

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