FEATURE
146
example in the corpus (fi g. 17). It was collected by
Father Henri Maurice in 1913. Other noteworthy
works are a fabulous and very old Fang byeri head
from Gabon; an ancient Vili nkondi from Congo or
Angola that is loaded with nails (fi g. 18); a magnifi -
cent Sango reliquary group from Gabon, complete
with effi gy and relics; and a superb okuyi Punu
mask from Gabon.
Our study of the Spiritan collections was based
on the Congregation’s current holdings, as well as
on objects that it formerly possessed when they
could be unequivocally identifi ed. However, in the
absence of a comprehensive inventory from the
time of the sale, it is entirely possible that we have
missed some of them. Nevertheless, a coherent vision
of the scope of the ensemble begins to emerge.
The bulk of the now-inventoried items come from
Equatorial Africa—Gabon, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Angola, Tanzania, Nigeria, and
Guinea. This is consistent with the Congregation’s
massive and longstanding presence in these regions.
Many different types of objects are present, ranging
from very simple artisanal items to the rarest
and most sacred kinds of fi gures and sculptures.
Together they illustrate the lives of African peoples
at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of
the twentieth centuries quite comprehensively. The
Spiritan missionaries were interested in all of the
realms of human industry: everyday utilitarian
objects such as cooking utensils, hunting and fi shing
equipment, agricultural tools, and pipes; prestige
objects including weapons of all kinds, chiefs’
staffs, scepters, etc.; artifacts associated with initiation
societies such as masks, fi gures, musical instruments,
and headgear; magical objects like amulets
and power fi gures; and sculptures connected with
ancestor worship including reliquaries and their effi
gies, reliquary statues, etc.
In various works they published between 1982
and 2000, Louis Perrois22 and Charlotte Grand-
Dufay23 studied the objects in the museum at Mortain.
Numerous high-quality works were among
them. From the Kongo region, there were a large
nkondi nail fi gure (fi g. 27) and an interesting nkisi
statuette, both with their magic charges intact, and
a superb small Bembe maternity (fi g. 28). However,
most of the important objects were from Gabon.
They included a series of Punu-Lumbu sculptures,
including several okuyi masks; a magnifi cent okuka
foundry bellows (fi g. 21); and a rare reliquary fi gure.
FIG. 26 (above):
Reliquary fi gure. Ambete,
Gabon/Congo. 19th century.
Wood, pigment, vegetal fi ber.
H: 69 cm.
CSSp collection.
© CSSp. Photo: Vincent Girier
Dufournier.
FIG. 27 (right): Power fi gure,
nkondi. Kongo culture
region, Congo/Cabinda
province of Angola. Late
19th–early 20th century.
Wood, nails, glass, resin, cloth.
H: 51 cm.
CSSp collection.
© CSSp. Photo: Vincent Girier
Dufournier.
The Tsogo cultural area was also well represented,
with several artifacts associated with the bwiti cult,
such as a beautiful Ngombi harp. There was also
a superb reliquary of Sango origin, complete with
its effi gy and its relic bundle (fi g. 22). Lastly, from
among the Fang, an impressive double-faced ngontang
mask and very old byeri fi gure (fi g. 7) were
especially worthy of mention. All of these objects,
which had been displayed in Mortain and then later
at Langonnet for decades, were known to afi cionados
whose curiosity had pushed them to visit these
abbeys’ cold but hallowed hallways.
More recently, research we have done on other
little-known groups of objects held by various
Congregation communities has made it possible
to identify a number of hitherto unknown works.
These are primarily from the Kongo, Teke, Fang,
and Kota cultural areas. Examples are a beautiful
canine nkisi from Kongo (fi g. 29), a large Teke fi gure
with its magical charges intact (fi g. 31), a rare
Ndassa reliquary (fi g. 23), and an impressive Fang
byeri in a transitional but still quite vigorous and
unusually naturalistic style, which was collected in
1922.
The most important discovery, however, was
undoubtedly that of two extremely rare reliquary
statues from the Ambete (Mbede), a cultural group
related to the Obamba that inhabits the Gabon-
Congo border region (fi gs. 25 and 26). This people’s
artistic output is poorly understood, but the few
works that are known evince qualities demonstrating
that it has major importance in the Congo-Gabon
cultural area and perhaps even more generally
in the complex of sub-Saharan Africa. The appearance
of these two hitherto unknown sculptures in
the Spiritan inventory greatly advances the current
state of knowledge of African art. The two fi gures,
both of exceptional sculptural quality, confi rm the
existence of coherent substyles in the limited Ambete
corpus. The fi rst (fi g. 26) can be compared
with an example at the Musée Dapper, which was
formerly in the Charles Ratton Collection. The second
(fi g. 25) can be added to a small group of very
famous works attributed to the hands of a genius
artist who, in the absence of any information on his
true identity, is called the Abolo Master. Only fi ve
currently known works can be attributed to him.24
These recent investigations, which the Congregation
energetically supported, are part of a project
celebrating a heritage that in its fi nal phases will