Reliquary guardian figure "eyema bieri" from a reliquary ensemble ·  Gabon, Ntumu Fang · ID: 3038919

Description

wood, rich blackish brown patina, heart-shaped concave vaulted facial plane with protruding mouth part, brass disc eyes fixed by nails, tripartite coiffure in lobes, voluminous shoulder/breast area, high forehead and overlong upper part of the body accentuated by vertical grooves, fragmentary: both legs and the right arm completely missing, the left forearm as well, blocklike base;

Ancestral cult of the Fang is always centred on the skulls of near relatives, especially the father, the mother or the fathers’ uncle. The skulls are unearthed weeks, if not months after the burial and then cleaned. Together with medicine and dry banana leaves they are placed in containers made from tree bark. A wooden figure is attached to the top of the container. These figures can be called ancestral figures according to Tessmann, even though they do not represent a particular person. The uninitiated, especially women, are forbidden to see the contents of the container. The skull containers and figures were sometimes placed in specially prepared sacred huts, but mostly they were simply left to stand in the corner of the owners hut.

Publications

Exposition

Galerie Walu, "Gabon", Zurich 30.9.-30.11.2005