Reliquary figure "mbulu" or "mwete" ·  Gabon, Kota · ID: 3034901

Description

wood, metal sheet and -tags, oval hollowed face with parallel incisions, the sickle-shaped eyes and the triangular nose worked separately, 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, base;
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.

The object Reliquary figure “mbulu” or “mwete” with the object ID 3034901 was last part of the auction 73rd tribal art auction at May 25, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 323 achieved a sales price of EUR 4,200.

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Comparing literature

Perrois, Louis, Arts du Gabon, Paris 1979, ill. 200