Female figure ·  Gabon, Punu · ID: 3032427

Description

wood, light brown patina with traces of dark brown, holding a calabash in the right hand, face with lowered lids, belly and back hollowed with round cavities, zigzag scar pattern on the nape, slightly dam., minor chips, on pedestal;
statuettes of the Punu or Lumbo are quite rare and all of them are female. Some are used in ancestor worship, others in healing and divination rites.
the rainforest people of Shira, Punu and Lumbo were forced by the Fang to settle in the south and south-west of Gabon. Thus they became part of the fourty ethnies of Gabon which are closely related to each other in many ways. All Lumbo statuettes are female. Some are used in ancestor worship, others in healing and divination rites. There is evidence of rapport between femaleness and magic in South Gabon. Those who heal and assist the “nganga” are mostly women. If the magician does not have the blood of victims specially sacrificed for the rite at his disposal, he may use menstrual blood or blood obtained from a recent birth.

Littérature comparée

David, Jean & Jane, Gabon, Zürich 2005, p. 163 Perrois, Louis, Punu, Mailand 2008, pl. 49 f.