Reliquary Figure

Artist Kota Peoples (African)

Place of OriginGabon

DateLate 19th - early 20th century

Dimensions20 × 11 7/8 × 4 in. (50.8 × 30.2 × 10.2 cm)

MediumCarved wood, brass, copper and iron

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1973.10

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 01

Label TextThe two faces of this ancestor figure look in both directions—to the past and to the future, to the world of the living and that of the dead. The concave face is female and the convex face, male. The purpose of a reliquary figure was to protect a sacred basket (usuwu) containing the skulls, bones, and other relics of particularly wealthy or powerful clan members. The three colors of metal sheeting, a highly valued import from Europe, conveys a brilliant aura to honor these relics as they continue to protect a clan during crises such as sickness, war, or the death of a leader.Published References

"African Art," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 16, no. 2, 1973, p. 41, repr. figs. 13, 14, cover in color.

"Recent accessions," Art Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 4, Winter 1973, p. 427, repr. on cover.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 19, nos. 2, 3, 1976, p. 81, repr.

Guip, David, "Sacred Relics, Ritual Objects: Instructional Resources from the Toledo Museum of Art," Art Education, vol. 46, no. 6, Nov, 1993, pp. 29, 32, repr. p. 31, (col.).

Roberts, Mary Nooter, Facing Africa: The African Art Collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1998, p. 60, repr. (col.) and p. 61, repr. (b/w.).

cf. Cloth, Frederic, "New Light on the Kota," Tribal Art, Special issue no. 5, 2015, pp. 30-55.

Exhibition History

Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Icon and Symbol: the Cult of the Ancestor in African Art, 1975, no. 41, p. 22.

Toledo Museum of Art, Student Curators Present: African Art, April 27-July 24, 2012 (Hitchcock Gallery).

Comparative ReferencesSee also Willett, Frank, African Art, an Introduction, New York, Praeger, 1971, p. 189, (ill.), 183.

cf. Bascom, William, ed., The Art of Black Africa, Collection of Jay C. Jeff, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, 1969, cat. no. 250, 251, (ill.).

cf. Trowell, Margaret and Hans Nevermann, African and Oceanic Art, New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1968, p. 152, 153, (ill.).

cf. Leuzinger, Elsy, Africa, the Art of Negro Peoples, New York, Crown Publishers, Inc., 1960, pp. 150-152, p. 161, pl. 41.

cf. Robbins, Warren M., African Art in American Collections, New York, Frederick Praeger, Inc., 1966, pp. 182, 183, 184, figs. 237, 238, 241.

cf. Fagg, William, Tribes and Form in African Art, New York, Tudor, 1965, pp. 77-78, (ill.).

cf. Kjellberg, Pierre, "Comment Evaluer un Reliquaire Bakota," Conaissance des Arts, no. 186, August, 1967, pp. 82-83.