GABON, KOTA - Lot 39

GABON, KOTA Large Janus Mbulu-Viti reliquary figure, Southern Kota (Obamba or Mindumu), Franceville region, Haut-Ogooué, Gabon. Wood, brass, copper, iron. Wooden base added later. Late 19th or early 20th century. Height: approx. 53.5 cm (not including the base) Effigy of an ancestor with two opposing faces, supported by a cylindrical neck plated with metal and an openwork diamond-shaped body left exposed, with a dark, glossy patina. The main, convex face features an oval brass face with a rounded forehead, separated from the other face by a riveted red copper band; the features are modeled using repoussé, with almond-shaped eyes with iron pupils, a triangular nose, and a rimmed mouth. The headdress features wraparound side panels with cylindrical pendants and a crescent-shaped crest adorned with a fan-shaped motif of chiseled chevrons, a clan identity mark. The reverse side, which is flat, is covered with dark metal plates nailed in place; it features only cabochon eyes and a nose made of folded metal sheet, with no mouth. This contrast between a sculpted obverse and a schematic reverse is characteristic of the Janus Kota, whose two faces are interpreted as masculine on the side with the domed forehead and feminine on the flat side, symbolizing the primordial duality between man and woman at the dawn of time (Perrois, 2012). With its oval face, transverse crescent, and truncated lateral headdresses, the piece belongs to the so-called “classical” type in its concave/convex variant (Perrois, 1985, pp. 46 and 48, category IV, variant 3; Chaffin, 1979, p. 214, group 17), attributed to the Obamba or Mindumu groups of the Franceville region. The overhanging forehead is attested as early as the first contacts: observed by Brazza in 1880 in the Obamba and Ndumu areas of Masuku, it was already at the height of its stylistic popularity by the end of the 19th century (Perrois, 2012, p. 27). Two-faced figures are rare: according to field surveys conducted in the 1930s by Efraïm Andersson, they are both older and of greater social significance than single-faced figures (Andersson, 1953, p. 342), and there are reportedly only about a dozen ancient examples among the Kota Obamba (Perrois, in Sotheby’s Paris, June 21, 2017, lot 74). Condition: generally good, with signs of use. Cracks and small losses on the crest; missing rivets on the frontal band; localized lifting of the leaves on the side headdresses; the nose on the reverse is split. An old crack in the tenon; a chip at the base of the diamond. The metal surfaces were likely cleaned in the past. Provenance: Belgian collection. Bibliography: Andersson, E., Contribution to the Ethnography of the Kuta, Uppsala, I, 1953 and II, 1974; Chaffin, A. and F., Kota Art: Reliquary Figures, Meudon, 1979; Perrois, L., Arts of Gabon. The Visual Arts of the Ogooué Basin, Arnouville, 1979; Perrois, L., Ancestral Art of Gabon, Geneva, Barbier-Mueller Museum, 1985; Perrois, L., Kota, Milan, 5 Continents, 2012.