This archaic reliquary figure exemplifies a distinct synthesis of geometric clarity, technical sophistication, and expressive restraint - hallmarks of the southern Obamba tradition. Thanks to the research of Frédéric Cloth, it can be attributed to the workshop of the renowned Sébé Masters - the name assigned by art historians to a highly distinctive and influential group of sculptors active in the late 18th and early 19th century, likely among the Obamba or related communities near the Sébé River in southeastern Gabon. Although their identity remains unknown, the uniqueness of their visual language is such that a coherent corpus of works could be confidently attributed to this group of artists. Frédéric Cloth’s research has shown that these artists not only created the well-known figures with skull-like faces – considered masculine – but also “female” examples with flattened, slightly concave faces. As Cloth demonstrated, a master’s hand is often identified through strong visual similarities between sculptures. If, as is the case here, a master creates works of differing appearances, and we fail to understand the iconography, they are often wrongly attributed other sculptors.

The French scholar Louis Perrois popularized the “Sébé Master” attribution in his essay in Bernard de Grunne’s 2000 exhibition “Mains de Maîtres” in Brussels. Although only convex male reliquary figures by the artist appeared in that exhibition, the sculptors who created them also produced their concave female counterparts. This specific reliquary figure is precisely the type of sculpture one would expect to see alongside the male figures of the Sébé Masters – plural, as Cloth has described how several masters worked in this style for several generations. The cross-hatched patterns decorating the middle of the lateral elements and crest suggest that this figure represents what the author calls a “decorated feminine” form. Cloth’s extensive research into the corpus of known “Kota” figures indicates these reliquary figures once functioned in groups of three. These sets were not arranged at random. Each was made up of a male figure (typically recognizable by the convexity of the face), a “sober” female figure, and a “decorated” female figure (the last two generally being similar in shape to the male, but with a concave face). Most statues, however, were collected as isolated objects, breaking up these sets of three.

The tradition of the Sébé Masters spanned several centuries. Based on carbon-14 analysis, the oldest reliquaries of this atelier date back to the 18th or even 17th century, although the tradition continued into the 19th and even 20th centuries - with works which, although made in the same style, are less accomplished. So, caution is warranted when it comes to dating. Still, numerous indicators suggest considerable age for this artwork. It is, in any case, a 19th century example, and most likely even earlier. Beyond the eleven known masculine examples, at least seven female figures have been identified, three of them in public collections: the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (#2009.2696), the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (#71.1886.79.6, collected by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza) and the Museum der Weltkulturen in Frankfurt am Main (#N.S.27016). Another was published on the front cover of Alain and Francoise Chaffin’s “L’Art Kota” from 1979. Another figure in the same publication (no. 44 on p. 28) is also very similar, as are two examples sold at auction and now in private collections (Sotheby’s, New York, 25 May 1999, lot 316 and Christie’s, Paris, 4 December 2008, lot 318).

The consistency in workmanship and the shared iconographic grammar all point to an artist or workshop that operated with intentional aesthetic discipline. The face is composed of carefully arranged vertical and horizontal bands of metal sheathing, creating a rhythmic grid in brass and copper alloys. The central vertical and horizontal spines divide the entire sculpture with axial rigor, reinforcing the figure’s symmetrical composition. The contrasting horizontal metal bands emphasize the width of the face while anchoring the eye visually. These smoothed metal strips amplify the tactile presence of the sculpture and demonstrate the artist’s virtuosic control over the material. The facial plane is distinctly ovoid and slightly convex, with a flatness interrupted only by the volumetric treatment of the eyes and nose. The protruding eyes, fashioned from riveted brass domes, create an arresting gaze. Nestled between them is a small, flat nose, sharply defined and triangular in profile, lending the face a near-abstract intensity. The eyes and nose are centrally placed. Typically, the mouth is omitted. Framing the face are small lateral flanges. Their sweeping form contributes to the figure’s monumental serenity despite its relatively modest size. Cylindrical ears project diagonally at the bottom of the flanges. Above the head, a high, almost semicircular crest fans outward like a radiant halo, its middle etched with a cross-hatched pattern. The neck is tightly wrapped with thin brass bands, echoing the layered order of the face, and sits on a large classic lozenge-shaped body. Altogether, the composition of this “Kota” is a textbook example of the formal grammar developed by the Sébé Masters: restraint, control, and a masterful sense of expressive power.