This exceptional reliquary figure stands out for the sculptural force of its geometric composition. Characterized by a face that skillfully balances abstraction and expression, the figure displays a brilliant singularity of style with a strong visual impact. The different volumes are beautifully treated in a series of successive planes, distinguished by the typical mosaic of meticulously applied metal strips. Our attention is immediately drawn to the sculpture’s gaze: the eyes are formed as elongated elliptical slits below the pronounced arches of the brows, which delineate the upper limit of a characteristically heart-shaped face narrowing towards a pointed chin. These strong brows are mirrored by a second set of arches underneath the eyes. The slightly concave face balances the ample forehead, which features a thin medial ridge that ends in a short geometric nose. In high relief, two more arching ridges divide the forehead, converging towards the nose. Between the nose and stylized open mouth, the wide philtrum is rendered as a heightened rectangular plane. A typical detail of this style are the indicated jawlines, raised from the volume of the face. The lateral panels - semicircular side flanges – form an elegant enclosure around the head. They are bordered with tiny repoussé dots, subtly reinforcing the symmetry of the whole. The forehead is crowned by a tall, crescent-shaped crest marked with embossed motifs. The neck is sheathed in vertically striated brass strips, worked in parallel bands, each patterned with punched dots. The lozenge-shaped lower section is lost due to age and long ritual use.

The French expert of Gabonese art Louis Perrois has identified the figures in this striking corpus as “Southern Kota (Obamba and Wumbu)” (Perrois, Kota, 2012, p. 150), while the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s curator of African Art Alisa LaGamma suggests “Obamba or Mindumu” (LaGamma, Eternal Ancestors, 2007, pp. 234-239). Stylistic comparison firmly places this example within a small corpus created by a group of highly skilled sculptors active in the second half of the 19th century. Given the uniformity in style, close contact between the different artists can be assumed. At least one “Kota” can be attributed to the same artist. Once owned by Pierre Matisse (the son of the painter) it was sold by Sotheby’s in 2015 (Sotheby’s, New York, 15 May 2015, lot 136). Notably, the double-arched lines on the forehead, the tight almond-shaped eyes enclosed by another arch, and the crested fan structure all appear with only minor variation. The shape of the mouth and the piercing of the ears are notable differences. The absence of the eroded body indicates the present example must have originally featured a similar diminutive lower section. Another artist worked in a closely related style; the figure formerly in the collection of Helena Rubinstein (Christie’s, Paris, 3 December 2020, lot 42) also features the typifying jaw line, yet the forehead is bulbous, and the eyes differently configured. Many public collections include “Kota” from this unique style: the Yale University Art Gallery (#1960.33.11 – with a very similar treatment of the mouth), the Penn Museum (#29-12-191), the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (#73.1963.0.727), the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren (#79.1.1542), the American Museum of Natural History (#90.1/ 6987), the Fowler Museum at UCLA (#X65.3805), the British Museum (#Af1956,27.242), and the Barnes Foundation (#A168).

With Anthony Innocent Moris (1866-1951) as its earliest documented provenance, this reliquary figure was once sold by one of the very first French art dealers to specialize in African art. After a short military career in Indochina, Moris decided to open a gallery in Paris in 1914 specialized in antiques. It was only after meeting London-based dealer William Oldman that he became passionate about African and Oceanic Art. His clients included Paul Guillaume and Charles Ratton (who became a close friend), as well as avant-garde collectors such as Bernard Bottet, to whom he sold this “Kota” prior the Second World War.

Reliquary figures in this style have long been prized for their cubist appearance; see for example one in the collection of André Lefèvre, an avid collector of the work of Picasso, Braque, and Gris (Sotheby’s, New York, 15 May 2017, lot 110). The art critic, magazine editor, modern art dealer and collector Félix Fénéon also owned a “Kota” of this type (see Sotheby’s, Paris, 12 December 2017, lot 37), while others were published and exhibited in the 1920s and 1930s, including two from the collection of Paul Guillaume: the reliquary figure now in the Malcolm collection, first published in Cahiers d’art in 1927, and another, published in Nancy Cunard’s Negro Anthology (London, 1934, p. 708). In their publication on African art (La sculpture nègre primitive, 1929), Paul Guillaume and Thomas Munro selected only one Kota reliquary figure among the forty-three included African artworks. Related to the present figure, it demonstrated how modern artists, seeking to break with the traditional canons of representation, had ascertained “that similar effects had already been obtained with remarkable success in African primitive art” (ibid, p. 8).