Byeri reliquary figure - Lot 10

Byeri reliquary figure Fang Noutmou, Gabon Wood H. 41 cm Provenance: - Former private collection, France Bibliography: - Louis Perrois, "La statuaire Fang du Gabon" in Arts d'Afrique Noire, N°7, Autumn 1973 - Louis Perrois, Arts du Gabon, Arnouville, 1979 Linked to the cult of Byéri, statuary is the main sculptural expression of the Fang. They asked the ancestors for help and protection in exchange for offerings and prayers. Both relic and statue, the Byéri was consulted before any important action. The ritual consisted of prayers, libations and sacrifices, which took place when a village was relocated or a new plantation established, a marriage or a war. As the fundamental pillar of society, the ancestor was the guarantor of the living world. All the religious beliefs and rituals that regulated social life revolved around the ancestral figure. This ancestor worship was practiced at lineage level, in the intimacy of the family. The father was the protector, the owner of the ancestral relics and the sole officiant. According to Louis Perrois, the Noutmou "group together a certain number of clans of the same historical origin which, at the end of the 19th century, were located in a region extending across Equatorial Guinea (formerly Spanish Guinea), southern Cameroon and, of course, Gabon". The statues are often elongated, without metal additions, and quite patinated. This reliquary figure represents a male figure standing in a hieratic attitude. Crowned with a three-shell headdress, the face is highly patinated, leaving the facial features in a beautiful artistic blur. The small, rounded forehead surmounts two eyebrows forming a heart-shaped face, while the mouth is noticeably fleshy. The shoulders, pectorals, arms and forearms are sculpted in perfect geometric roundness. The hands are joined at the abdomen. The pectoral muscles are visible, delicately suggested by the sculptor. The umbilicus protrudes. Thanks to the softness of its features, combined with a light brown patina, a beautiful expression of serenity emanates from this Fang figure.