Reliquary figure "mbulu" or "mwete"

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Description

wood, metal sheet and -tags, oval hollowed face with parallel incisions, the sickle-shaped eyes and the triangular nose worked separate, the neck merging into a diamond-shaped handle, which was inserted into the lid of the skull receptacle, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion and corrosion;
the Kota used to fix these stylized head sculptures on top of boxes containing the skulls and bones of important ancestors. They should protect the valuable contents. Housed on a shelf outside the village, the figure was carefully polished with sand to maintain its shining surface which should keep sorcerers away.

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Comparing literature

Perrois, Louis, Art ancestral du Gabon dans les collections du Musée Barbier-Mueller, Genf o.J., p. 76 Perrois, Louis, Arts du Gabon, Paris 1979, ill. 193

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