Skip Navigation

Reliquary Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)

Arts of Africa

The Kota believe that the bones of important men and women retain power after death, providing protection and good fortune to an individual's descendants. The bones are preserved in reliquaries made of bark or basketry. On top are placed figures known as bwiti. This bwiti typifies the Kota style. The face is covered with strips of hammered brass and copper. The neck swells into an open lozenge shape, the lower part of which is thrust into the container of bones forming its "body."

MEDIUM Wood, copper alloy, copper, accumulated/applied materials
  • Place Made: Gabon
  • DATES late 19th-early 20th century
    DIMENSIONS 20 3/4 x 8 3/8 x 2 1/4 in. (52.7 x 21.3 x 5.9 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
    ACCESSION NUMBER 56.6.19
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Ancestral figure, concave geometric face type, eyes and nose raised, crest above head, body diamond shaped; surfaces covered with hammered metal or metal strips. CONDITION: Good.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Kota (Ndumu or Obamba subgroup). Reliquary Figure (Mbulu Ngulu), late 19th-early 20th century. Wood, copper alloy, copper, accumulated/applied materials, 20 3/4 x 8 3/8 x 2 1/4 in. (52.7 x 21.3 x 5.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, 56.6.19. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 56.6.19_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 56.6.19_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
    Kota (Ndumu or Obamba subgroup). <em>Reliquary Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)</em>, late 19th-early 20th century. Wood, copper alloy, copper, accumulated/applied materials, 20 3/4 x 8 3/8 x 2 1/4 in. (52.7 x 21.3 x 5.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, 56.6.19. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 56.6.19_bw.jpg)

    TAGS

    TAGS