Anonymous Ndassa artist
19th century
Gabon
height 22 1/2 in
Further images
This reliquary figure presents a powerful and expressive variation within the southern Kota corpus, distinguished by its bold morphology and strong sculptural contrasts. The most striking feature of the ovoid face is the pair of large, hemispherical eyes. Placed beneath thick, projecting eyebrows that delineate the forehead, the eyes create an intense, hypnotic gaze. Typical of this style is the heart-shaped facial plane, placed in a concave volume, contrasting with the prominent convex forehead. The forehead is structured around a central ridge, dividing it symmetrically and continuing into a small rectangular nose. The absence of a mouth follows the canonical Kota abstraction, while the three large sheets of brass that make up the lower face are each punctuated by carefully punched dotted lines, reinforcing the axial tension of the composition.
Framing the face are lateral flanges, scalloped into a stylized curve reminiscent of swept wings or “duck tails”. These semicircular side elements, with repoussé bordering, enclose the facial zone in a harmonious oval and lend the sculpture a sense of containment. The tall upper crest fans outward in a full semicircular arc. Its unadorned surface, punctuated only by repoussé bordering, creates a striking contrast with the more textured, tooled areas of the face below, heightening the visual impact of its guarding presence. The elongated cylindrical neck is covered in brass, decorated with vertical bands engraved with rhythmic linear motifs. It functions as a visual hinge, anchoring the weight of the head to the structural base. The lozenge-shaped lower body is fully preserved, displaying aged and patinated wood, indicative of its long ritual life.
Altogether, this figure embodies a harmonious balance between abstraction and realism, with unusually expressive eyes lending the sculpture an almost anthropomorphic force. The play between the masculine convex forehead and concave face is a hallmark of this powerful southern Kota sub-style, most likely associated with the Ndassa.
Provenance
Acquired in Paris in the 1930s
Private collection, Palm Springs, USA
Allen A. Davis Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Taylor A. Dale, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Private collection, USA, acquired from the above in July 2001
Arte Primitivo, New York, 19 June 2012, lot 158.
Maurice Solomon, New York, USA, 2012-2021
Sotheby’s, New York, 22 November 2021, lot 70
Galerie Éric Hertault, Paris, France, 2022
Private Collection