Detail View: ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART: Reliquary Guardian Figure (mbulu ngulu) from Gabon
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Collection:
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ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART
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Preferred Title:
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Reliquary Guardian Figure (mbulu ngulu) from Gabon
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Image View:
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Mbulu ngulu, overall view from front right
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Creator:
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unknown (Gabonese sculptor)
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Location:
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repository: FABA (Fundación Almine Y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso Para El Arte) (Madrid, Madrid, Spain)
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Location Note:
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From Africa to the Americas: Face-to-Face Picasso, Past and Present (2018 exhibition)
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Date:
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ca. 1890-1930 (creation)
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Cultural Context:
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Central African; Gabonese
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Style Period:
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Kota (Kota-Mbete region style)
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Work Type 1:
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sculpture (visual work)
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Classification:
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Sculpture and Installations
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Material:
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wood; copper alloy
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Technique:
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carving (processes); hammering
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Measurements:
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51.2 cm (height) x 25 cm (width) x 6.7 cm (depth)
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Subjects:
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abstraction; death or burial; funerary art
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Description:
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The Kota once used reliquary guardian figures (mbulu ngulu) to protect and demarcate the revered bones of family ancestors. The bones were preserved in containers made of bark or basketry. The mbulu ngulu stood atop this bundle, bound to it at the figure’s lozenge-shaped base. It is thought that the figurative form of the mbulu ngulu was intended to reinforce and communicate the reliquary’s intense power. Kota mbulu ngulu are unique among African sculptural forms in their combination of wood and hammered metal. These figures largely ceased to be produced after 1930. (Source: Brooklyn Museum; http://www.brooklynmuseum.org)
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Collection:
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Archivision Adjunct Module D: World Art
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Identifier:
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7A3-AFRICAN-FAFFM-NRG-A02
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Rights:
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© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.
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