ART ON VIEW
FIG. 3 (right):
Reliquary guardian fi gure.
Mahongwe, Gabon. First half
of the 19th century.
Wood, brass, copper, vegetal fi ber.
H: 52 cm.
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac, inv. 71.1886.77.2.
© MQB-JC. Photo: Hughes Dubois.
FIG. 4 (facing page):
Protective fi gure.
Lumbo, Gabon. 19th century.
Wood, kaolin, pigment, animal hide,
vegetal fi ber, string, organic materials,
stone. H: 32 cm.
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac, inv. 71.1943.0.433X.
© MQB-JC. Photo: Patrick Gries,
Valérie Torre.
106
The exhibition relies on the stylistic classifi cation
of Fang works begun by Louis Perrois in
1972,4 which applies the morphological method
created by Albert Maesen for the study of the
arts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
These studies in cultural anthropology are based
on the identifi cation of pertinent groupings, statistical
analysis, and the systematic comparison
of morphological and ornamental elements, as
well as oral tradition and data obtained in situ.
These elements constitute the lens of the methodology
used to defi ne the toponymic and stylistic
attributes of works as accurately as possible.
Following up on the scientifi c research on the
Kota done on the occasion of the opening of the
Musée Dapper in 1986,5 the Musée du Quai
Branly – Jacques Chirac has performed a number
of analyses on a corpus of Atlantic Equatorial
African artworks. Thanks to radiographic
analysis technologies, scanning, and physical
and chemical methods, a systematic study of
forty-one ancestor and reliquary fi gures was performed
by Christophe Moulherat, the museum’s
director of analysis, in order to determine the
nature of the patinas and bone remains associated
with the statues. The composition of the
metal decorations on twenty-nine Kota reliquary
fi gures of various styles was also complemented
by a systematic examination of wood types and
manufacturing techniques. This research shed
new light on the modes of production and the
composition of works from the region.
Kota ancestor and reliquary fi gures are certainly
among the most emblematic examples of
traditional African sculpture. Above and beyond
the sculptural conventions they exemplify, their
overall conception combined with the specifi city
of their forms, structure, and ornamentation
were intended to reinforce the protective powers
of the statue created to sit atop baskets fi lled
with ancestral relics. This practice of venerating
ancestors through the creation of sculpted effi
gies was shared by the Fang, Kota, and Punu
communities.
The white masks of Central Gabon embodied
the spirit of a female ancestor and were worn
by men at ceremonies held for mourning, the
birth of twins, or the initiation of young men.
As Alisa LaGamma has pointed out,6 since their
performance, which was done on stilts, brought