Reliquary Kota, Gabon - Lot 373

  2. Result
  3. Reliquary Kota, Gabon - Lot 373
  4. Lot n° 373 
Lot n° 373
Go to lot
Estimation :
5000 - 8000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 13 000EUR
Reliquary Kota, Gabon - Lot 373
Reliquary Kota, Gabon Metal, wood - Plinth Dimensions: H.: 52 cm - W.: 18 cm Provenance : Colonial collection, 1930s, according to oral information from the current owner French private collection 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. The structure and skilful arrangement of the face's forms, alternating planes, reliefs, concave and convex shapes, give it a powerful presence in space. The outline of the face is magnified by flattened side panels, accentuating the beauty of its oval shape. The intensity of the gaze is heightened by alternating planes - raised and recessed - and by the interplay of forms - convex and concave - clearly dividing the face in two. The eyes, set back under a metal arch of the eyebrows, are made up of two horizontal friezes, tubular and circular in shape. The absence of a mouth, accentuated by a thick vertical metal axis, lends it an austere air. Its inverted-triangle headdress, finely decorated with engraved motifs, features an inverted crescent moon at the top, filled with a series of diamond shapes at the ends, three empty triangles in the center, and two half-crescents at the bottom, overhanging a solid triangle entirely engraved with diamond shapes. Finesse and delicacy of the ornamental engravings, contrasting with the sobriety of the face. The elongated neck is ringed. "But what for us Westerners seems to have been an aesthetic 'taste' was in fact a symbolic necessity in the heart of Kota villages, most of the decorative motifs being signs linked to the system of family organization or religious beliefs." Perrois. The edges of the side panels and ridge are clearly defined. A fine example of the inventiveness, creativity and technical genius of Gabonese art.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue