OBAMBA RELIQUARY FIGURE
Gabon, Upper Ogooué... Lot 191
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OBAMBA RELIQUARY FIGURE
Gabon, Upper Ogooué region, Kota people.
End of XIXth century.
Thick wooden core plated with leaves and decorated copper and brass strips.
H. 62 cm.
The concave side is divided into four copper quarters decorated with horizontal strips. On the two
brass strips crossing in the middle of the face are two different round eyes, one in
the other in copper, it is an old repair made with a military button. The nose is
triangular. No mouth. This reliquary is topped with a crescent of classical form. The
lateral caps are curved and the pendants which are hung there are oblique and of form
cylindrical shape, the neck is decorated. The wood of the base is very patinated. On the reverse side, a diamond pattern is
carved in relief. Some wear and tear due to age and use.
The devotion to the relics of the dead is one of the characteristics of the religions of many peoples
of Gabon. Ancestors are made even more present when their bones are preciously
preserved, being the object of specific rites. The use of the bone box was widespread in Congo
and Gabon, especially among the so-called Kota peoples. The latter are the only ones in this region to
use a metal decoration covering almost the entire wooden frame. These kinds of tombs
portable tombs were exhibited on many occasions, during the initiation of the young people the families of the clan
families would gather and bring their reliquaries.
Provenance: Family history tells us that this mask was brought directly from Africa
by a great, great uncle. Mr. Pierre Cardi.
The owner tells us: "The story I have always heard: It was given by a village chief
to this uncle, who was a postmaster in Gabon in the 1890s.
The latter is said to have saved a child from drowning and therefore received this gift as a "reward".
Mom inherited it in the 1960s."
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