Mahongwe Reliquary Statue

Height with base: 31"

Mahongwe Peoples, Gabon

Materials: wood, copper

Wood and copper reliquary figure with an almond shaped face and protruding eyes. The entire wood body is wrapped in thin narrow bands with sheets and rivets of copper alloy. These figures were used by the Mahongwe people of Gabon in the spiritual discipline of Bwiti, as guardians of ancestral reliquary baskets of magical objects. They were very important to tribal ceremonies.

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