Reliquary guardian figure "mbulu" or "mwete" ·  Gabon, Kota · ID: 3038216

Description

wood, brass sheet, copper nails and -clamps, an oval hollowed face, enlivened by metal plating from various materials, characteristic sickle-shaped coiffure and projections on both sides, the neck merging into a fragmentary diamond-shaped handle, which originally was inserted in the lid of the skull receptacle, min. dam., traces of insect caused damage (back), small missing parts, cracks, slight traces of 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 guardian figure “mbulu” or “mwete” with the object ID 3038216 was last part of the auction 79th Tribal Art Auction at March 21, 2015 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 360 achieved a sales price of EUR 3,600.

You can find more Figures and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.