Reliquary figure "mbulu" or "mwete" · Gabon, Kota · ID: 3029892
Renate Pessler, Basel, Switzerland
Eduard Hess, Basel, Switzerland
Description
wood, metal sheet and -tags, oval hollowed face with parallel incisions, the sickle-shaped eyes and the triangular nose worked separate, the neck merging into a diamond-shaped handle, which was inserted into the lid of the skull receptacle, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion and corrosion;
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.
Littérature comparée
Perrois, Louis, Art ancestral du Gabon dans les collections du Musée Barbier-Mueller, Genf o.J., p. 76 Perrois, Louis, Arts du Gabon, Paris 1979, ill. 193