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;
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 “usuwu” 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.

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Comparing literature

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

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Publications

African Art Collection Samuel Dubiner, Tel Aviv 1960; African Art Collection Samuel Dubiner, Jerusalem 1960; African Art Collection of Samuel Dubiner, Tokyo 1961

AHDRC: 0047627

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Exhibition

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

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