Fang reliquary head, Gabon, wood, oozing patina - Lot 176

Lot 176
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Estimation :
800 - 1200 EUR
Fang reliquary head, Gabon, wood, oozing patina - Lot 176
Fang reliquary head, Gabon, wood, oozing patina H.28cmxW.18cm (plinth). Until the beginning of the 20th century, byeri, the Fang cult of family ancestors, was accompanied by sculpted images, symbolic representations of the deceased in the form of full-length statues (eyema byeri: "the image of the family ancestor"), but also single heads, called añgokh-nlô-byeri ("the whole head of the byeri ancestor"). Known only to the Southern Fang (Fang Betsi) of the Gabon Estuary and main Ogooué valleys, between Libreville and Lambaréné, these sculpted heads arrived in Europe as among the earliest examples of Fang art.
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