FANG Cameroon, southern region h 52 cm Byeri... Lot 18

FANG Cameroon, southern region h 52 cm Byeri male reliquary figure. Light-coloured medium-dense wood covered with a black glaze, traces of erosion, old fractures, and indigenous restorations. It has a hand-crafted iron necklace and a fitted copper belt. This represents an ancestral figure (byeri), sculpted following the style that the specialist Louis Perrois has identified as Ntumu, a subgroup of the Fang people located in South Cameroon, north-west of Gabon and around Equatorial Guinea.The main characteristics of this group are:Head of average proportion to a prominent brow, a sleek, slender torso, arms extended from the body, short legs, the trunk of the body sitting on a support beam.These sculptures, preserved in a family sanctuary, were placed on wicker boxes that contained the skulls and remains of the ancestors who had founded their clan’s lineage. During commemoration ceremonies, a mixture of magic substances, sacrificial blood, palm oil, and resins were dripped onto the wood, as this granted the statue its life force. PROVENANCE Ex collezione Walter Glaser (Basilea); Ex collezione Eduard Hess (2002);Collection of Walter Schwab, Bern (inv. WS 542) (2002); An old label stuck on the back reads “Africa Camerun 1890” A second handwritten note on the wood displays the date 1912; NOTE Lot not located at Finarte offices but in Switzerland. It could be subject to customs costs related to the importation into the buyer’s country. In any event, any customs cost and/or burden related to importation shall be borne by the buyer. For more information, please write an email to arteafricana@finarte.it LITERATURE PERROIS LOUIS, La statuaire Fang du Gabon, Articolo pubblicato sulla rivista francese Arts d’Afrique Noire n° 7, Autunno 1973, pagg. 22 – 42; PERROIS LOUIS, Arts du Gabon, Arnouville 1979 (119); LABURTHE-TOLRA PHILIPPE & FALGAYRETTES-LEVEAU CHRISTIANE, Fang, include un estratto dell’opera di Gunther Tessmann “Les Pahouins” del 1913 tradotto in francese, Fondation Dapper Paris 1991, pagg. 120 - 123 (277);