Kota Reliquary Figure, Gabon

Gaston de Havenon, New York, by 1971
Sarah de Havenon, New York, by descent from the above

Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., The de Havenon Collection: African Art, 1971

Warren M. Robbins, The de Havenon Collection, Washington, D.C., 1971, no. 197
Alain and Francoise Chaffin, L'Art Kota: les figures de reliquaire, Meudon, 1979, p. 105, fig. 27

Gaston de Havenon was one of the pioneering New York art dealers who introduced sub-Saharan African art to an America audience after the Second World War, and maintained this charming Kota in his personal collection. It was shown in the landmark exhibition of de Havenon's collection organized by Warren M. Robbins in 1971 at the Museum for African Art in Washington, D.C.  For a closely related figure in the collection of Jean Willy Mestach, see Maurer (1991: 105, fig. 91), and for another closely related figure first published in 1934, see Sotheby's, New York, May 16, 2014, lot 375.