Null KOTA-OBAMBA RELIQUARY FIGURE, GABON
Wood, brass and copper
H. 64 cm

Proven…

Description

KOTA-OBAMBA RELIQUARY FIGURE, GABON Wood, brass and copper H. 64 cm Provenance : - Alain de Monbrison - Former princely collection Located in the east of Gabon, the Kota are established on a vast plateau along the Ogooué River. Beautiful guardian figure of a reliquary of the classical type. The wood core is plated with leaves and copper and brass strips. The concave oval face is divided into four quarters. The eyes are slit, the nose is long. The crescent and the lateral parts are decorated with repetitive motifs.

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KOTA-OBAMBA RELIQUARY FIGURE, GABON Wood, brass and copper H. 64 cm Provenance : - Alain de Monbrison - Former princely collection Located in the east of Gabon, the Kota are established on a vast plateau along the Ogooué River. Beautiful guardian figure of a reliquary of the classical type. The wood core is plated with leaves and copper and brass strips. The concave oval face is divided into four quarters. The eyes are slit, the nose is long. The crescent and the lateral parts are decorated with repetitive motifs.

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Estim. 40 000 - 60 000 EUR

A mbulu ngulu reliquary figure. Also known as mboy or omboye in Kota country, the reliquary figure in the Jean Roudillon collection is a superb classic example of Kota Obamba or Bawumbu art. Featuring a face with concave and convex volumes, and using two colors of metal, this reliquary figure enriches the corpus that falls into category number nine according to the classification of the reference work known as "le Chaffin" L'Art Kota Les Figures de Reliquaire, of which a fairly close example can be found in the collections of the British museum in London, as well as the famous Kota with round eyes in the Barbier-Mueller collection. Here, the expressive, singing open mouth is adorned with small dots all around, and similarly all around the crescent and wings. At the back, the lozenge is supplely sculpted, with a slightly convex vertical bar carved in relief, another fine example of the ancient style. Jean Roudillon, who was very attached to this work from the former Albert Sarraut collection, commissioned Louis Perrois to make a study for this superb reliquary figure, which connoisseurs know to be in an ancient, even archaic style, and which is also very well preserved here. Louis Perrois' well-documented study compares this work to other reliquary figures in the former collections of Paul Guillaume, Helena Rubinstein, Arman, Madeleine Rousseau and George Gershwin. In Jean Roudillon's notes: "Africa, Gabon, Kota Reliquary figure in wood covered with brass and copper leaf. Former collection of Albert Sarraut, Minister of Colonies in a government of the Third Republic. Exhibited at the International Sporting Club de Monte Carlo, Antiquaires et Galeries d'Art from July 25 to August 11 1975 and reproduced in the catalog, p. 73. Kota Obamba or Bawumbu, Gabon Wood, brass, red copper, old wear and erosion, very fine old patina. H. 37 cm See p. 146 to 158 for category 9 in: Art Kota Les Figures de Reliquaires, Alain et Françoise Chaffin, Ed. Chaffin Meudon 1979 See: a study by Louis Perrois commissioned by Jean Roudillon and given to the purchaser. Provenance: - Albert Sarraut Collection (collected in the 1920s) - Jean Roudillon Collection (acquired in Paris in the 1950s) Exhibition and publication: Première exposition internationale des antiquaires et des galeries d'art, Sporting Club de Monte Carlo, July 25-August 11, 1975, reproduced in catalog p. 73.

Estim. 1 000 - 1 200 EUR

Figure de type reliquaire Kota Mahongwe, Gabon

Estim. 3 000 - 4 000 EUR

Kota Obamba Reliquary, Gabon H. 65 cm L. 31 cm Settled in eastern Gabon's Haut-Ogooué province, at Okondja and Ondili, the Obamba people are a Bantu people of Central Africa. According to Alain and Françoise Chaffin's classification (L'art Kota, Meudon, 1979), this reliquary belongs to group 17, corresponding to the Obamba of the Mounana-Moanda region. Composed of a hardwood core plated with hammered and molded copper leaf on the facial part, bronze or brass on the eyes, upper cap and lateral crescents, this reliquary figure features a concave oval face clad in alternating smooth bronze plates forming a cross-shaped motif contrasting with the lamellar hammered copper plates. With crescent-shaped eyes and a triangular nose, the mouth reveals a slight smile. At the lower end of the wide, fan-shaped headdress, a hatched frieze appears, hammered with diamond-shaped geometric decoration. The sides each support a meticulously crafted counterpart. The neck features an unusual pattern of striated triangles hammered into the bronze. No patina. Expert : Aurore KRIER-MARIANI - +33 (0)6 17 18 11 36

Estim. 80 - 150 EUR

GABON - KOTA - Ancient reliquary - Wood, copper alloy - visible damage - H.

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