This archetypal reliquary figure is the distilled essence of the “Kota” visual idiom, rendered with clarity and refinement, the whole in perfectly harmonious proportions. Often referred to as “classic” within the corpus of southern Kota sculpture, the figure displays all the hallmarks of a canonical style. The concave face is ovoid, elongated, and vertically oriented, with a prominent brass band emphasizing the axial structure. The entire facial plane is bifurcated into two distinct surface treatments: the outer zones are clad in tightly spaced horizontal metal strips, while the inner axis is defined by smooth brass sheeting. This compositional strategy, alternating textures, creates a powerful visual rhythm and speaks to the sculptor’s smart command of contrast.

The pronounced eyes, placed on the horizontal axis, are rendered in high relief: two shallow domes set with pronounced rims and surrounding shallow depressions, imparting an alert expression. The prominent triangular nose drops from the brow ridge with mathematical precision, lending the visage an almost architectural severity. The mouth is absent, consistent with the Kota tendency to abstract the face and disengage it from human likeness. This deliberate omission reinforces the spiritual function of the figure as a silent protective agent rather than a commemorative portrait.

Framing the head are two large lateral panels, almost rectangular in proportion, slightly flaring at the base and terminating in flattened edges. These side elements are spare in detail and smooth in surface, enhancing the centrality of the facial plane. The upper crest - a large, semicircular arch - rises from the crown in a pure, unadorned expanse. Its unworked surface, oxidized over time, offers a striking foil to the richly decorated face below. This type of broad crescent is one of the defining characteristics of the “classic” style, evoking a three-dimensional local coiffure positioned two-dimensionally on the sculpture’s flat plane.

Beneath the head, the cylindrical neck is wrapped in diagonally striated metal, functioning as a visual hinge between the figure’s upper and lower registers. The lozenge-shaped body is fully preserved, and the four arms of the diamond meet in a precise central void. The entire composition is underpinned by a remarkable equilibrium between axial symmetry and surface modulation. Each element contributes to the sense of immutability and transcendence, perfectly aligned with the object’s intended ritual function, guarding the bones of ancestors from spiritual and physical harm.

Figures of this quality form the bedrock of most major museum holdings of “Kota” art: closely related examples can be found in the collections of Stockholm’s Etnografiska museet, (#1954.01.2677 and #1919.01.1364, both collected by Karl Edvard Laman between 1890-1919), the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris (#71.1883.47.1, acquired before 1883), the Brooklyn Museum (#1989.51.2 – formerly in the collection of the American abstract expressionist Adolph Gottlieb), the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico in Rome (#33721, collected by G. Savorgnan di Brazza and A. Pecile in 1883-1884) and the World Museum in Liverpool (#DP Temp 427). The formal vocabulary of this well-known type has become so iconic that it help define the 20th-century reception of African sculpture in the West - often serving as one of the primary visual references for Modernist artists and collectors alike.