This is the rating and price for Kota Pair Of Reliquaries, mid 20th century

Description : Additional Information: This , exceptional pair of standing figures comes from the Kota of Gabon. Both , figures have striated bodies covered with plaster. In many places, this plaster is worn away . Among the Kota and Mahongwe such , figures represent the the founders of the lineage and are , center pieces in the ancestor cult. Ancestor worship formed the core of the Kota peoples' religious and social life. At the death of a chief, parts of his body would be decorated with metal and rubbed with magical powders. These would be kept in baskets surmounted by stylized figures which the Europeans called naja because they resembled the head of an erect cobra. The figures were covered with copper or brass. At the time of the initiation into the secret society, each clan's chief would dance, holding the reliquary. The reliquaries were kept outside homes, and only the initiates of the lineage had access to this sacred place. The MaHongwe are linked to the Kota but have developed their own style often identified as 'naja', a European term of identification. The larger figures represented the founder of the lineage and the smaller a descendent of the lineage. The formal sculptural presentation of the figures was often enhanced by brass sheets worked in a repousse technique (sheet metal worked by pressure from the rear to form a design) and by brass metal strips worked in design across the face of the sculpture. (See Kerchache et al's ART OF AFRICA) Numbering about 30,000, the Kota share language and culture with a constellation of smaller ethnic groups living in Gabon and along the western reaches of the People's Republic of the Congo. The focal point of Bwete rituals are reliquary containers made of bark or basketry holding magical objects or the bones of ancestors. On top of these baskets would be placed the often quite abstract metal-covered statues. These figures also served to protect the relics from malicious actions of witches and malefactors and themselves were handled with care and reverence.It is in the stylistic development of the heads where regional and ethnic variations are most apparent. Complete figures will range from approximately 30 to 60 centimeters in height.  ,I have examined this pair and agree with the description. Niangi Batulukisi, PhD.  ,
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