Location:	New York
Type:	African Funerary / Reliquary Figure
Tribe:	Kota or Ossyeba
Country:	Gabon
Materials:	Hardwood, Copper Plating and Wire
Age:	Mid 20th Century (Tribally Used)
Dimensions:	21"x7.5"x4.5" (HxWxD)

The Kota and Ossyeba tribes celebrate cults based upon the belief of the soul's performance after death. Each figurine corresponds to a specific ancestor and was a symbolic representation of him. These figures are placed on top of a box containing the bones of their deceased. The wooden head of this figure is wrapped in beaten copper and brass whilst the neck area is wrapped with string. It is also a double headed figure with a head at the rear. The lower body of the figure has beaten copper placed around the legs and shoulders. Reduced to a group of signs having little in common with a real human face, such sculpture retains only a pair of eyes, generally set in the middle of the figure. The curved lines descending from these "eyes" have been interpreted as tears. The mouth has completely disappeared because the deceased do not speak. The entire piece gives off the intense spirituality of this almost dreamlike version.

 

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