Lot 110
  • 110

Kota-Obamba Reliquary Figure, Gabon

Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
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Description

  • wood, copper
  • Height: 15 1/2 in (39.4 cm)

Provenance

André Lefèvre, Paris
Ader and Ribault-Menetière, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Collection André Lefèvre. Art Nègre, December 13, 1965, lot 105
Henri Kamer, New York, by 1977
Philippe and Hélène Leloup, New York, by November 1985
Arturo Peralta-Ramos II, acquired from the above

Literature

Henri Kamer (adv.), Arts d'Afrique Noire, no. 23, 1977, pp. 36-37
John McKesson, 'les expositions. Galerie Leloup à New-York', Arts d'Afrique Noire, no. 57, Spring 1986, p. 39

Condition

Very good condition for an object of this type and age. The wood structure of the proper right and left tips of the coiffure are broken and held in place by the metal covering. Drill hole from previous mounting on reverse. Old cracks and losses to bottom element. Loss to metal on nose. Marks, nicks, scratches abrasions throughout. Dents, small tears, and losses to metal plates. Old abrasions at "knees". Fixed to modern base with two screws in back. Exceptionally fine aged oxidized patina with encrustation. Fine aged patina on reverse. Old inventory number "SP2008" painted in white on reverse. Some small patches of adhesive on reverse probably from old labels.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

Kota ritual practices reconcile two distinct manifestations of the human: first, the tangible remains of the body as bones and skulls, and second, the abstracted form crafted as a reliquary figure. For the purposes of ancestral worship, Kota people would place the vestiges of deceased elders into woven receptacles. They would then attach reliquary figures, such as this one, by their diamond-shaped lozenges to the relics, and the resultant arrangement was believed to protect the wellbeing of family units. In these practices, the aforementioned receptacles of bones were sacred, while the figures themselves were not; the villagers’ selling these figures to Westerners was then, in fact, not contradictory to their religious beliefs. With Christianity’s expansion throughout the Kota region during the colonial era, however, these traditional practices generally came to an abrupt end in the 1930s, and many of these figures were either lost or destroyed.

 

André Lefèvre, who owned this work in Paris, was best known as a collector of Cubist art. Like many of his contemporaries, he was drawn also to African and Oceanic aesthetics that Western artists, such as Picasso and Léger, had appropriated. The simplified deconstruction with which this Kota reliquary figure depicts the human face and form would have thus appealed to modernist tastes and sensibilities of Lefèvre and the artists whose work he collected.