A Rare Tsogho Female Ancestor Figure, Gabon

gheonga, emerging from a circular base, the female figure with bent legs, straight torso, squared shoulders and raised forearms with clenched fists, vertically pierced for insertion, the long circular neck leading to a spherical head with expressive open mouth, small nose bisecting the almond shaped eyes, surmounted by five crested coiffure; fine aged patina with orange, white and black pigment.

Reportedly from a French Private Collection, 1920s
Olivier le Corneur, Paris
Acquired from Galerie Le Corneur and Roudillon, Paris, 1969

Gheonga figures were stored in the sacristy of the cult house, ebandza. They were commemorative figures with for the most part a secular rather then a religious function (Newton and Waterfield 1995: 153).  While most of the known examples of this rare type are of relatively modest sculptural quality, the Silberman gheonga is distinguished by its powerful expressive composition that merges with a high degree of refinement in the facial features. It closely relates to a gheonga figure in the collection of the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva, which was collected and taken to Sweden before 1904 (BMG 1019-64, published in Newton and Waterfield 1995: 152; also: Perrois 1986: 202, cat. 31 and pl. 19; Perrois and Garcia 1986: 41). For two other related figures see Arts d'Afrique Noire, 71, Automne 1989, p. 39.