Description
A rare complete bwiti reliquary. The guardian figure is sculpted in bust form, the arms detached from the body rise towards the breasts in a traditional gesture that seems to support a pectoral load and enclose another abdominal load that still has its mirror. The guardian figure of the reliquary, always feminine, with eloquent polychromy bringing together the three fundamental colors, white, red and black, symbolizing life, is enthroned on a ceramic pot bound by a red cloth and containing the relics. Red expresses stupor, power and anger as well as blood, flesh and fire, but it would also express modesty and maturity. Photo of the object taken in situ by Jacques Viault, in a village on the plain between the port of Mayumba and the mouth of the Nyanga River, on its altar in a lodge set up inside the Ebandza, a bwiti temple. Lumbu, Gabon Wood, glass, pigments, resin, fabric, ceramics, and other elements constituting the charges and the reliquary. H. 43 cm Provenance : Jacques Viault Collection.
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A rare complete bwiti reliquary. The guardian figure is sculpted in bust form, the arms detached from the body rise towards the breasts in a traditional gesture that seems to support a pectoral load and enclose another abdominal load that still has its mirror. The guardian figure of the reliquary, always feminine, with eloquent polychromy bringing together the three fundamental colors, white, red and black, symbolizing life, is enthroned on a ceramic pot bound by a red cloth and containing the relics. Red expresses stupor, power and anger as well as blood, flesh and fire, but it would also express modesty and maturity. Photo of the object taken in situ by Jacques Viault, in a village on the plain between the port of Mayumba and the mouth of the Nyanga River, on its altar in a lodge set up inside the Ebandza, a bwiti temple. Lumbu, Gabon Wood, glass, pigments, resin, fabric, ceramics, and other elements constituting the charges and the reliquary. H. 43 cm Provenance : Jacques Viault Collection.
