Door
Elaborate door panels once adorned Tsogho homes and religious structures. The relief carving on this example addresses integral concepts related to the Bwiti system of spiritual beliefs, moral philosophy, and initiation. Here, a stylized human figure is surrounded by two rows of triangles, which have been interpreted as vessels that transport the souls of initiates from birth to death. Such motifs may also refer to the geometric patterns and fractal visions that initiates experience after consuming iboga, a hallucinogenic plant central to Bwiti rites. The prominent use of white pigment alludes to the ancestors, who are envisioned as pale white figures reanimated in mang ayat (the land of the dead beyond the ocean).
Artwork Details
- Title: Door
- Artist: Tsogho artist
- Date: Late 19th–early 20th century
- Geography: Gabon, Ogooué River region
- Culture: Tsogho
- Medium: Wood, pigment, kaolin
- Dimensions: H. 59 in. x W. 27 in. x D. 3 1/2 in.
- Classifications: architecture, arch. elements and related
- Credit Line: Gift of Carol B. Kenney, in memory of Jerome P. Kenney, 2025
- Object Number: 2025.96.1
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
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