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BLANCHET & Associés
165
-
Fang reliquary head, Gabon, wood, H.
See original version (French)
165
-
Fang reliquary head, Gabon, wood, H.
See original version (French)
Estimate 500 € - 800 €
Voluntary lot
Description
Fang reliquary head, Gabon, wood, H.47cmxW.18cm (plinth). Until the beginning of the 20th century, the byeri, the cult paid by the Fang to their family ancestors, was accompanied by sculpted images, symbolic representations of the deceased in the form of full-length statues (eyema byeri: "the image of the family ancestor"), but also single heads, called añgokh-nlô-byeri ("the whole head of the byeri ancestor"). Only known to the Southern Fang (Fang Betsi) from the Gabon Estuary and the main Ogooué valleys between Libreville and Lambaréné, these sculpted heads arrived in Europe as some of the earliest examples of Fang art.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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