Reliquary guardian figure "mbulu-ngulu" or "boho-na-bwete" · Gabon, Kota · ID: 3052083
Starting price
EUR 4,000
Estimated price
EUR 8,000
Provenance
Louis Pieter Cornelis van Rijn, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Galerie Kephri) (ca. 1979)Italiaander Galleries, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Werner & Lotte Krause, Hamburg, Germany (1987)
Size
H: 59,5 cm
H: 23.4 inch
Description
wood, metal, base
The Kota believed that relics of important men and women possessed great power and could grant protection to descendants and bring good luck. Therefore, skulls and bones were kept together with magical substances in woven baskets (“musuku mwangudu” or “usuwu ngulu”).
These containers are crowned with figurative sculptures made of wood and brass, which are thought to embody the guardian spirits of the ancestors dwelling within them.
Comparing literature
Perrois, Louis, Kota, Milan 2012, p. 151, pl. 44
Publications
AHDRC: 0047211