Standing female ancestor figure "gheonga" ·  Gabon, Tsogho/Sango · ID: 3035261

Description

wood, dyed with yellow ochre and black paint, traces of kaolin, massive body, a proportionally small face with the facial features concentrated on a small area, the back of the head widely projecting to the back, slightly dam., minor missing parts (coiffure), traces of insect caused damage, cracks (right side of head and body), plate;
the rare statuettes of the Tsogho were used for rites of the “bwiti” society and for the ancestral cult “mombe” (aside of reliquary busts, called “mumba bwiti”). Sculpture of the Tsogho is invariably associated with initiation societies, at which the “bwiti” society has top priority. The “bwiti” cult is spread all over the whole of Central Gabon. “Bwiti” has no initiation rites in classical meaning, but an initiation through taking “iboga”, a hallucinogenic plant. The statuettes were kept in the mens house, together with all the other objects which were needed for the “bwiti” cult. At funeral rites or rites held in favour of a good harvest the statues were displayed inside the mens house.

Comparing literature

Kerchache, Jacques & Jean-Louis Paudrat u.a., Die Kunst des Schwarzen Afrika, Freiburg, Basel, Wien 1988, p. 573 f. Phillips, Tom (Hg.), Afrika, Die Kunst eines Kontinents, Berlin 1996, p. 315 Gollnhofer, Otto, Art e Artisanat Tsogho, Paris 1975, p. 85, ill. 172