Reliquary guardian figure "mbulu" or "mwete" · Gabon, Kota · ID: 3033460
sold
EUR 4,500
Provenance
Pierre Cornette de Saint Cyr Paris, 28 February 2001, lot 154Zemanek-Münster Würzburg, 25 February 2006, lot 213
French Private Collection
Size
H: 57,5 cm
H: 22.6 inch
Description
wood, metal sheet, metal tags, disc-shaped flattened coiffure with sickle-shaped headcrest, oval face with vertical forehead tattoo, the neck turning into a diamond-shaped handle, geometrical ornaments, min. dam., on base;
stylistically influenced by the Ambete.The Kota people 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 it´s shining surface which should keep sorcerers away.
Comparing literature
Perrois, Louis, Arts du Gabon, Paris 1979, p. 173, ill. 168
Exhibition
Bruneaf, Brussels Non European Art Fair XIX, 3-7 June 2009