This reliquary figure, attributed to the Obamba culture of the southern Kota complex, displays exceptional craftsmanship and striking chromatic contrasts. The face is rendered in a broad ovoid shape within a beautiful convex volume. Typically “Kota”, the face is dominated by an elegant axial layout: a central vertical spine intersects with a horizontal band, both covered in yellow brass. This cross-like division structures the face in four quadrants, each decorated with horizontal bands of reddish-toned copper. The eyes, fashioned from riveted copper domes, are placed on the central horizontal band. Just below, a pair of silver-colored iron rivulets trickle down from the eyes with their upper end forming the pupils. These lines have been described as “tears” as they seem to cascade down from the eyes. Yet, they most likely represent scarification lines. Nestled between the eyes is a sharply delineated triangular nose, which protrudes in angular profile and is sheathed in brass. The absence of a mouth centers all expressive power in the gaze and the geometry of the face. This radical geometric conception culminates in the charged intensity of the face, where the “Kota” logic of human representation - and its strictly frontal reading - reaches its apex. Above the head, a tall, near-semicircular crescent crest fans outward with monumental grace, decorated with a central cross-hatched pattern. A rare feature is the presence of a single hair tress, emerging centrally from the top of the crest - a detail which the French collector Dr. Jean-Claude Andrault considered a sign of antiquity. The lateral flanges, sheathed in brass, frame the face. Diagonally placed ears at the bottom are covered in red copper strips. The cylindrical neck, tightly wrapped in parallel brass bands, rises from a classic lozenge-shaped openwork base. The upper arms are covered with brass, decorated with incised cross-hatching designs. The wood displays a rich patina, with deep reddish-brown tones contrasting the cool luster of the metals above.

What distinguishes this figure is not merely its materials or form, but the extraordinary precision with which it is constructed. The metal strips are flawlessly affixed, reflecting the confident and controlled hand of the artist. Every decision is ruled by proportion, symmetry, and contrast. The design is crisp and deliberate, lacking the looseness or irregularity seen in more recent examples. In sum, this Obamba reliquary figure is a masterpiece in which chromatic contrasts, technical mastery, and symbolic complexity converge. Its bold juxtaposition of golden brass, red copper, and silver iron not only enlivens the surface but imbues the figure with both spiritual and visual intensity that underscores its original function as a guardian of the ancestors’ relics.

The beautiful oval face, chromatic contrast between applied brass and copper, and ringed neck can also be observed on a “Kota” collected by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza and Attilio Pecile before 1886, currently in the collection of the Parisian Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (#71.1886.79.4). An example donated to the British Museum in 1931 (#Af1931,1118.45) repeats all these stylistic traits and also has the single hair tress on top – a feature also common among Mahongwe reliquary figures and therefore perhaps suggesting a northern influence. A similar “Kota” in the collection of the Museum der Kulturen in Basel (#III.5077) also features the single hair tress, and the iron tears under the eyes. Collected by Karl Edvard Laman before 1919, a figure in the collection of the Stockholm Ethnographic Museum (#1919.01.1360) also shows the tress. The French Musée du Périgord in Périgueux (#F.401) possesses another example of the type, as does the Horstmann collection (cf. Bassani (Ezio), “The Power of Form. African Art from the Horstmann Collection”, Milano, 2002, p. 125, #46). In 1917 Paul Guillaume and Guillaume Apollinaire published another in “Sculptures Nègres” (Paris, 1917, pl IV - whereabouts currently unknown).

This particular “Kota” lived for many years in Geneva, in the collection of René Lavigne (1920-1981), a Polish Jew, born not far from the Russian border, who emigrated in his youth to Paris. There he became a member of the circle of Mané Katz, the painter, and through him the Algerian painter Jean Atlan. At the outbreak of war both Lavigne and Katz moved to New York where Lavigne met his future wife, Mercedes. This was the period in his life when he started collecting African art, when he saw and bought a small Bambara horseman from Mali around 1955, recording the observation that it was just like a Giacometti. In 1967, Lavigne returned to live in Europe and settled in Geneva where he took up again his work at the United Nations in charge of publications, surrounding himself with objects that were in perfect harmony with each other: modern paintings, African art, antiquities from the Mediterranean, 17th and 18th century Spanish furniture, Hispano-Moorish wares, iridescent glass, rare books and magnificent carpets that filled his rooms - and his life.