Reliquary figure "mbulu" or "mwete"

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Description

wood, brass and copper sheet, metal nails and -clamps, an oval hollowed face, enlivened by metal plating from various materials, typical sickle-shaped coiffure and projections on both sides, the neck merging into a diamond-shaped handle, which originally was inserted in the lid of the skull receptacle, rep., min. dam., minor missing parts through insect caused damage, slight traces of corrosion;
among the Kota, all images of ancestors are positioned above ancestral baskets, or “usuwu”, to which they were attached. 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

Lagamma, Alisa (ed.), Eternal Ancestors, New York 2007, p. 256, ill. 80

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Publications

Expo cat.: "African Art Collection Samuel Dubiner", Tel Aviv 1960; "African Art Collection Samuel Dubiner", Jerusalem 1960; "African Art Collection of Samuel Dubiner", Tokyo 1961

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Exhibition

Tel Aviv: "African Art Collection Samuel Dubiner", Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, January 1960 Jerusalem: "African Art Collection Samuel Dubiner", Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem, 7 August-7 October 1960. Tokyo: "African Art Collection of Samuel Dubiner", Tokyo, National Museum, 31 June 1961

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