Rare ancestor shrine
Gabon, Fang
not available anymore
Provenance
French Private Collection, ParisSize
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.
Publications
Jean David, Gabon, Zurich 2005, p. 167AHDRC: 0139820