Null An ancient and imposing polychrome mbumba bwiti reliquary figure, with larg…
Description

An ancient and imposing polychrome mbumba bwiti reliquary figure, with large eyes set with glass strips characteristic of this corpus, wearing the ancient mitooki hairstyle with an axial stripe and in four braided plaits, plaits here sculpted with openwork. It should also be noted that it is part of a workshop style center where the sculptors treated the chins in a flattened manner like the two previous reliquary figures and also the following one. She is still adorned with her earrings. For mbumba with comparable openwork headdresses, see : Lumbu, a Sacred Art, Gourcuff-Gradenigo ed. and Galerie Bernard Dulon, 2016, figs. 84, 97, 99, or 105. Lumbu, Gabon Wood, glass, pigments, resin remnants, earrings, important oxidation of age, visible accidents and lack, very beautiful and old patina of use. H. Height : 43 cm Provenance : Jacques Viault Collection.

213 

An ancient and imposing polychrome mbumba bwiti reliquary figure, with large eyes set with glass strips characteristic of this corpus, wearing the ancient mitooki hairstyle with an axial stripe and in four braided plaits, plaits here sculpted with openwork. It should also be noted that it is part of a workshop style center where the sculptors treated the chins in a flattened manner like the two previous reliquary figures and also the following one. She is still adorned with her earrings. For mbumba with comparable openwork headdresses, see : Lumbu, a Sacred Art, Gourcuff-Gradenigo ed. and Galerie Bernard Dulon, 2016, figs. 84, 97, 99, or 105. Lumbu, Gabon Wood, glass, pigments, resin remnants, earrings, important oxidation of age, visible accidents and lack, very beautiful and old patina of use. H. Height : 43 cm Provenance : Jacques Viault Collection.

Auction is over for this lot. See the results

You may also like

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.