Return to Eternal Ancestors
Unrivaled in its synthesis of refined elegance, grace, and physical power, this stunning female figure, created to be poised at the summit of a Fang reliquary, became synonymous with a new canon of beauty. When she was first shown at the Lefevre galleries in London in 1933 she was hailed as an African Venus.
Modernism sought to overthrow established conventions through a new canon of expression. André Warnod, the influential French commentator for the journal Comoedia and Le Figaro, proposed that l'art nègre might one day replace Greek art in the formation of young artists. Warnod further suggested that "for the generations that will come after ours, a work from the ancient Soudan will be considered an indisputable masterwork; somewhat as the Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace or the poor Joconde [Mona Lisa] are for us." One of the three major African sculptural icons he cited as worthy candidates for consideration was this head from a Fang reliquary, then owned by the antiquarian art dealer Joseph Brummer. Brummer encouraged interest in African art not only as an essential source of modern art but as a major world tradition worthy of appreciation in its own right.
This work is among the earliest reliquary sculptures from equatorial Africa brought to Europe. It was collected over the course of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza's explorations of the region that laid the foundation for French sovereignty over the Middle and Upper Ogooué River system, the Loango coast, the Kwilou Niari River, and the Congo River system north of the Malebo Pool. Scientific collections gathered during the third of three missions (1883–85) were first presented in Paris at an exhibition sponsored by the Ministère de l'Education Nationale at the Orangerie of the Jardin des Plantes in July of 1886.
The metals so artfully applied to the surface of Kota reliquary sculpture were chosen because their great value honored the ancestors with the most precious materials available. Given that the technical skills required to smelt metals were identified with esoteric knowledge and spiritual intercession, the catalyst for their creation was identified with exceptional creativity. The process of composing the figurative elements was largely an additive one in which brass, copper, and iron were layered and affixed to a wood sculpture. Metal pounded into flat sheets was cut and applied to the surface. Often artists skillfully combined different metals in order to highlight specific features with contrasting colors.
This shrine was brought to France by Charles-Vital Roche, the colonial officer in charge of the government's headquarters at N'Ghimi (Franceville), who also provided support for the third West African expedition (1883–86). Roche gave the work to the newly established state institution of ethnography in 1897. The accompanying documentation identified it as an "M'boueti" or "mboumba bwete" ancestor and as the "symbolic representation" of the founder of a lineage guarding over his descendants. The ensemble is exceptionally rare in its completeness; the figurative element remains integrated with its original sacra, both held within their basketry receptacle.
Mbete sculptors developed a figurative reliquary form that fully integrated ancestral sacra within the sculpture. In this tradition, a hollowed columnar torso served as an internal receptacle. That core is framed by the gesture of minimally defined arms held to either side and supported below by knees bent above broad muscular calves. The tensed posture of the figures suggests their role as active guardian to the reliquary's contents. Access to the contents was afforded through a dorsal aperture.
The scheme of black, white, and red pigments applied to the surface of this work and culturally related wood sculptures from the Lower Congo region constitutes a coherent system of color symbolism drawn upon for rites of passage. Black was widely drawn upon in connection with death, burial, and mourning. The ancestral realm is characterized as white, and it is most dominantly manifested in rites relating to vision and heightened awareness such as initiations. Red pomade, a regional cosmetic, was sometimes rubbed on the bodies of the deceased and applied to their insignia to invest them with renewed influence and agency.
Punu, Tsogho, and Sangu patrons in central and southern Gabon commissioned wood figurative elements that were integrated with relic bundles wrapped in hide at the base. Intact examples attest to an overall aesthetic of the exactingly defined figurative element conjoined with the amorphous relic packet. This genre of representation ranges from half figures to busts whose placement, poised at the summit of the gathered ancestral matter, affords them an immaterial aspect.
Large-scale beete ceremonial rites were orchestrated in the face of crises that threatened a Kwele community's cohesion and well-being. These ceremonies harnessed the power of important ancestral relics from its member families in order to restore a sense of harmonious unity. Over the course of beete's proceedings, performances of a variety of different masks were used to divert the participants and, in so doing, afford them a shared experience of something extraordinary and marvelous to behold. The masks worn by the performers personified beings of the forest known as ekuk. Almost all these representations were abstract silhouette-like evocations of animals identified with qualities of physical strength and agility. The basic choreography ranged from rhythmic prancing to shuffling movements. The combined energies generated by successive dances were believed to increase the effectiveness of the relics in conferring well-being upon the community.
Over the course of beete's proceedings, performances of a variety of different masks were used to divert the participants and, in so doing, afford them a shared experience of something extraordinary and marvelous to behold. Duiker antelopes figured prominently in a Kwele community's beete observance. Leon Siroto notes (1969:213) that many of the younger men embarked on a great weeklong net-hunt for these animals in the forest. The collaborative beete quest, which could last more than a month, generated a collective camaraderie. A successful hunt was interpreted as an indication that the forest was favorably disposed to the community's beete rites.
The pluriarc has been extensively drawn upon in ancestral veneration rites north and south of the Ogooué River. It consists of five musical bows and a simple resonator. When played, the resonator is held against the stomach as the strings are plucked. Stylistically the figurative element at the summit of this elaborate example's resonator is related to idealized portraits created by sculptors in southern Gabon. The use of white kaolin on the face elevates the subject to an otherworldly state of transcendence.
Small precious objects such as those found in this reliquary were substitutes for the remains of the deceased. This elegantly turned and decorated receptacle may have been used alone or as the interior container for a group of nestled reliquaries.
The practice of creating reliquaries in the form of saints' heads or busts is first documented in the Massif Central of France in the ninth century. The sacred contents of these lifesize reliquaries turned their subjects into powerful presences that watched over their communities, a role underscored by the focus on the attentive and animated faces. The radiant silver, gold, and jewels that often encased such creations were appropriate given that saints' relics were themselves considered precious. Saints so honored by the medieval church were often founders of the communities that conserved their relics. Saint Yrieix was one such exemplary leader; his image was displayed and life story recounted as a role model to emulate and petition.
During the French Revolution, such precious church property was declared available for the use of the nation; a campaign to recoup the inherent monetary value of gold and silver objects quickly ensued, provoking a wave of destruction. This work, weighed and listed with others slated for the melting pot, appears to have been secreted away and thus to have escaped destruction.