Arts d'Afrique, d'Océanie et des Amériques
Arts d'Afrique, d'Océanie et des Amériques
Property from the Collection of Barbara and Brian Wolfowitz
Auction Closed
December 12, 04:12 PM GMT
Estimate
150,000 - 250,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
Fang Reliquary Figure, Gabon
Height: 18 ¼ in (46.5 cm)
Possibly Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum für Völkerkunde, Cologne, Germany
Joseph and Doris Gerofsky Collection, New York
Sotheby's, London, Important Tribal Art, June 29 and 30, 1987, lot 45
Barbara and Brian Wolfowitz, acquired at the above auction
By Pierre Amrouche
The powerful sculpture is an abstracted representation of a muscular male ancestor. The figure rests on a posterior support which was also used, like a monstrance, in ceremonies where the lineage of the clan was recited by an orator who would be hidden behind a screen of banana leaves. The head boasts an imposing coiffure with parallel braids curving down along the nape of the neck. The face is expressive, under a large, rounded forehead adorned with scarification, a gaze narrowed by his hooded eyelids, and a mouth forming a classic Fang “pout”. In keeping with the Mvaï Fang style, the figure embodies key characteristics of the corpus: a curved abdomen, a protruding umbilicus, an engraved “cravate” scarification, and the tall, ridged coiffure. These relatively sophisticated objects are the work of a small ethnic group living between the Ntoumou and the Betsi, as Louis Perrois notes in Byéri Fang (Marseille, 1992, p. 52). The majestic work is imbued with a sense of sacred interiority.