This is the rating and price for Fang Ntumu Figure, Cameroon/Gabon

Description : Fang Ntumu Figure, Cameroon/Gabon éyéma-o-byéri Wood with shiny black patina, metal eyes Height 8in (23cm) Provenance Gaston de Havenon Collection, New York Jeff Soref Collection, New York, acquired in 1982 Important Private Collection Published Robbins, Warren, The de Havenon Collection, Museum of African Arts, Washington, D.C., 1971, fig. 181 Exhibited Washington, D.C., Museum of African Art, African Art: The de Havenon Collection, 30 May - 3 October 1971 As noted by Robbins (Ibid.), 'Gabonese sculpture characteristically reflects the presence of powerful supernatural forces. One of the fundamental religious beliefs shared by Gabonese peoples was that of the urgent necessity to protect and nurture the spirits of the dead. The device used took the form of a guardian figure affixed to a basket containing the bones of ancestors. The guardian figures of the Fang, called Bieri, were conceived in a studied interplay of strongly curved muscular forms conveying a sense of dynamic internal tension and contained power. To the relatives of the deceased, these images were the living personification of a proud lineage and served as their intermediaries with the supernatural world.'

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