Reliquary figure "mbulu-ngulu" ("spirit of a deceased")

Description

wood, copper sheet, nails, characteristic form: oval hollowed face, crescent-shaped coiffure and side projections, the front side entirely coated with copper sheet, the reverse side has no metal overlay and instead is simply carved with a rhombic emblem, the neck merging into a diamond-shaped handle, old collection number handwritten in white paint on the backside: “24018”, slightly dam., rep./breakages (handle, coiffure), metal sheet with matt and darkened patina, partly loosened at the handle, minor missing part at the base backside;
the ancestral cult forms the centre of the religious and social life within the family collective. When a patriarch died various relics were taken from his body and were kept in wickerwork baskets with stylized figures on top. Each family clan owned such a reliquary ensemble, which were all kept in the background of the chiefs hut. At initiation rites the family clans gathered and each clan leader performed a dance holding the respective reliquary in his hands.

Comparing literature