Kota Reliquary - Lot 257

Kota Reliquary Wood, metal, brass H. 58 cm Provenance (seller's verbal information): Purchased at Hôtel Drouot in 2000 Private collection, Paris Illustrious icons of the primitive arts, with stylized bodies and geometrical faces formed by the technical skill of alternating metal, brass, copper and zinc - materials as precious as gold in 19th-century Gabon - Kota reliquaries, in association with ancestor worship, linked the worlds of the living and the dead through mystical channels. Belonging to the traditional "classical" Kota corpus, this effigy embodies formal ingenuity, complexity and precision. Refinement of composition combined with its spiritual symbolic force, symbolizing "the visual landmark of a world where the ancestors continue to watch over their descendants". Louis Perrois. Kota reliquary figure with a hardwood core plated with brass leaves. The concave face is enlivened by convex cabochon eyes and half-moons on either side of a pyramidal nose. The side pendants are each extended by a pendeloque. The wide crescent at the top joins the crowded lateral wings. The truncated lozenge-shaped stirrup is worked with hammered linear motifs. This classic effigy in Southern Kota iconography represents the ngulu, or guardian of the Belle ancienneté relics, with a gnawed back. Expert : Aurore KRIER-MARIANI - +33 (0)6 17 18 11 36