Fang Reliquary, Gabon - Lot 98

Lot n° 98
Go to lot
Estimation :
4000 - 6000 EUR
Fang Reliquary, Gabon - Lot 98
Fang Reliquary, Gabon Wood, bark H. 66 cm Provenance : Rachel Montagut Collection, Barcelona Paco diaz Collection, Madrid Widespread throughout Fang country, in southern Cameroon, Gabon and continental Equatorial Guinea, the cult of the relics of the family's illustrious dead was one of the major ritual pillars of society. Neither Mebere, the creator for the Fang, nor Nzamé, the primordial hero, were ritually honored; only the ancestors received offerings and prayers from whom akam, help and protection, was sought. The byeri was consulted before an important moment to help make a decision, before weddings or war. Among the essential elements of the Byeri are cylindrical chests containing the bones of ancestors, as well as magical and medicinal plants to combat evil spirits. Topped by a guardian attached to the lid, as shown here, they were used, as Louis Perrois explains, to protect against bivous, wandering evil spirits. "All sorts of collective and individual means were used, including magic medicines. The aim of legal magic and divination was to counteract and chase away the bivous spawned by the nnem. Practised by the ngengang, skilled in manipulating the supreme forces and vital impetus of all those things created by Mebere, the magic of the healing diviners, imbued with magical beliefs, was based on traditional medicine based on "active" plants. Representative of the Fang sculptural creation, this male statue surmounting its cylindrical bark box belongs to the corpus of reliquary guardians, these statues of ancestors known as eyema-byeri. Used in ancestral cults, they were intended to contain the relics of the lineage's most illustrious ancestors. Its role was to guard and preserve the precious relics of the lineage, protecting them from sacrilege. These sets of relics (ekokwe nlo) were made up of various bone samples taken from the clan's most prestigious deceased (essentially whole skulls or skull caps, femurs, phalanges, vertebrae, teeth), sometimes mixed with jewelry, plants and other items considered magical. The figure, seated on his box in a frozen stature, displays a solemn, dignified and ceremonial gesture, rendered by the gestures of his hands carried forward supporting a container with great dignity. The face has powerful, austere features, as if to defy the evil spirit to approach. Beautiful deep black patina.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue