Buste reliquaire "mbumba bwiti" ·  Gabon, Tsogho · ID: 3047944

Description

wood, dark red paint, pigments, metal, shell / snail shell, base

These busts were used in rituals of the “bwiti” initiation society as part of the ancestor cult “mombe”.

They were placed in baskets containing human bones and magical substances and were supposed to guard the precious contents. They were kept in the men’s house together with ancestor figures “gheonga”.

Littérature comparée

Phillips, Tom (Hg.), Afrika, Die Kunst eines Kontinents, Berlin 1996, p. 315 Goy, Bertrand, Tsogho, Paris 2016, p. 93

Publications

AHDRC: 0050103