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This is the rating and price for Reliquary Guardian Figure, 2007.0



Description : wood, metal, rest., inscribed on the back Kot 2 In an article published in a gentleman's magazine in 1955, this reliquary guardian figure can be seen in several photographs showing it hanging on a wall in Lore Kegel's living quarters. A stylistically comparable guardian figure from the Ndassa region (ex Heinrich Umlauff) published in LaGamma, 2007, p. 256, fig. 80. Kota reliquary guardian figures, such as this one, are unique among African sculptural forms in their combination of wood and hammered metal. As with the Fang, ancestor worship (bwete cult) plays an important role among the Kota. It finds expression in these anthropomorphic metal-decorated figures called boho-na-bwete in the north and mbulu-ngulu in the south. The Kota believed that relics of important men and women possessed great power and could grant protection to descendants and bring good luck. Therefore, skulls and bones were kept together with magical substances in woven baskets (musuku mwangudu or usuwu ngulu). Occasionally, the relics were publicly displayed with the aim of mobilizing the power of the ancestors, such as when an important event took place in the community (a hunt, a great collective fishing expedition, etc.). Sometimes the figures were removed from shrines and used during annual bwete festivals. When not in use, the figures and baskets of ancestor relics are usually kept in a small chamber at the back of the chief?s residence. Beginning in the 1870s, Kota reliquary figures were among the earliest African sculptures to be acquired by European naturalists and explorers?among them Paul Du Chaillu, Alfred Marche, Oscar Lenz, and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. Beginning in the early 20th century, avant-garde artists?including Europeans such as Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger and Paul Klee, Americans such as Alfred Stieglitz, and Africans such as Ernest Mancoba?widely collected and drew inspiration from Kota art. Published In: Er - Die Zeitschrift für den Herrn - Mode Sport Gesellschaft, No 9, 1955, p. 10 Continent: Africa
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Estimate (low-high) : 25000 EUR-50000 EUR It's free to register now to view!

About the lot N° 62
Title : Reliquary Guardian Figure, Period : 2007.0
Size : H: 57 cm, H: 22,4 inch
Provenance : Georg Kegel, Hamburg, Germany (acquired 1936 in Paris) Lore Kegel, Hamburg, Germany Boris Kegel-Konietzko, Hamburg, Germany Kegel-Konietzko & Dorn, Hamburg, Germany
Literature : LaGamma, Alisa (ed.), Eternal Ancestors, New York 2007, p. 256, fig. 80 Perrois, Louis, Kota, Milan 2012, p. 39
Condition report : See description
Zemanek-Muenster, auctioneer, Würzburg, DE It's free to register now to view!
Sale title : Sale 100
Sale date : 15 Apr 2023 It's free to register now to view!
Sale Reference : Live Sale

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