About the lot N° 65
Title : A Rare Cameroon/Northern Gabon, Fang Female Reliquary Guardian Figure
Size : height 22in. 55.9cmProvenance : PROPERTY FROM AN AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTIONDoctor Gaston Durville, ParisNotes : Gaston Durville began collecting African art in Paris in the 1930's. He was known as an expert on the 'pahouin' as Fang works of art were more widely referred to at that time. He also gave lectures on their art at the Richter Gallery on the Faubourg St. Honoré in 1933.While kaolin-surfaced or so-called 'white' Fang figures are rare, their concentration is not limited to one specific region in Cameroon or Gabon. For related kaolin-covered works see Rietberg Museum (see Leuzinger, 1970: 239, number Q7) for a Fang, Bieri head, and Leuzinger (1978: 161, figure 109) for a Fang figure, both from Mvai, Northern Gabon/Cameroon, the Brooklyn Museum (ibid: 235, figure Q3) for a Fang, Bieri, figure, the Musée de l'Homme (Perrois 1972:264) for a Fang, Nzaman, figure, the Museum für Völkerkunde Lübeck (see Dapper 1991: 59) for a Fang, Ngumba, figure and another from a private collection (Robbins and Nooter, 1989: 328 figure 850).Referring to the Fang masks, nlo ngon ntan (head of the young white girl), which are covered in kaolin, Perrois states that among the Fang white is the color of the spirits of the dead. '...In the sense that Fang tradition says that the deceased are reincarnated in the land of the Whites, the Whites would therefore be the ancestors who have returned to visit the living' (1985: 149). The oral tradition relaying a proverbial creation of a byéri containing ancestral relics also emphasizes the participation of the 'ghost world' and incorporates a white person (an albino) and a young beautiful girl as necessary for its creation (Perrois 1991: 45-48). While it is rare to see 'white' female guardian figures for a reliquary, byéri, this female figure's role as a liminal figure situated between life and death is further emphasized by the white surface and is in keeping with Fang beliefs and traditions.Sotheby's, auctioneer
It's free to register now to view!
Sale title : African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art
Sale date : 14 May 2004
It's free to register now to view!
Sale Reference : Live Sale
