Reliquary bust "mbumba bwiti" · Gabon, Tsogho · ID: 3047944
sold
EUR 3,500
Provenance
Merton Simpson, New York, USAEduardo Uhart, Paris, France
Size
H: 43 cm
H: 16.9 inch
Description
wood, dark red paint, pigments, metal, shell / snail shell, base
These busts were used in rituals of the “bwiti” initiation society as part of the ancestor cult “mombe”.
They were placed in baskets containing human bones and magical substances and were supposed to guard the precious contents. They were kept in the men’s house together with ancestor figures “gheonga”.
Comparing literature
Phillips, Tom (Hg.), Afrika, Die Kunst eines Kontinents, Berlin 1996, p. 315 Goy, Bertrand, Tsogho, Paris 2016, p. 93
Publications
AHDRC: 0050103