Kota-Ndasa reliquary figure, Gabon Wooden... - Lot 16 - Giquello

Lot 16
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Estimation :
18000 - 25000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 28 600EUR
Kota-Ndasa reliquary figure, Gabon Wooden... - Lot 16 - Giquello
Kota-Ndasa reliquary figure, Gabon Wooden core plated with copper and brass H. 60 cm Kota-Ndasa reliquary figure, Gabon H. 23 5/8 in Provenance: - French private collection Since the colonial annals of the late nineteenth century, the name Kota has been used to designate a group of Bantu-speaking populations occupying all of eastern Gabon as far as the Sibiti region of the Congo. Their social organization is typically clan-based and their habitat is dispersed, although some villages may have as many as a hundred huts. The history of their migrations has been meticulously studied by the ethnologist Louis Perrois. The mobility of the Kota populations led them to adopt a method of safeguarding ancestral relics typical of the populations of Gabon and southern Cameroon. The bones were preserved in small baskets of sewn bark and woven wicker that were very easy to carry when they were forced to leave their territory. At the top of these ossuaries was placed a carved wooden effigy plated with copper and brass representing a human face, an ancestral figure conceived for protection. The whole was kept away from profane eyes in a consecrated place where only high ranking initiates could enter. The contemplation of these figures, combined with the absorption of psychotropic drugs, played a fundamental role in the initiation ceremonies of young men. The mbulu-ngulu reliquary figure was an icon, the visual marker of a world where the ancestors continue to watch over their descendants. In Kota country, it was an essential "tool" for the survival of groups, allowing recurrent communication between the living and the dead. Louis Perrois, Kota, 5 continents, 2012. Our reliquary figure, a classic of the Kota-Ndasa style, appears so close to the famous example in the Armand Trampitsch collection that it can be attributed to the same workshop, or even the same artist.
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