Kota - Obamba - Lot 25

Kota - Obamba Reliquary figure Gabon Upper Ogooué Valley Wood, copper, brass H. 53 cm Provenance : Jean-Pierre Laprugne, Paris Galerie Olivier Klejman, Paris Stéphane Kurc Collection, Paris The Kota people of Gabon and the Republic of Congo are renowned for their striking reliquary fi gures. powerful faces carved in wood, covered with fi ne copper and brass plates in stylized geometric forms. Topped by a woven basket containing the precious relics of venerated an- relics of venerated ancestors, these sculptures are more than mere ceremonial objects: they are the beating heart of the clan's and community life of the clan. Often called "reliquary guardians", these fi gures play a protective role, watching over the sacred remains the sacred remains of the ancestors. But their function goes far beyond that. True intercessors between the world of the living and that of the spirits, they are at the heart of essential rituals: healing ceremonies, fertility cults, initiation rites and social arbitration. Carried by the collective memory, they are passed down from and preserved by the clan chief, who invokes them to ensure the protection and prosperity of his people. The kota in the Kurc collection is part of this spiritual and artistic heritage. a rare and refined example belonging to a very limited corpus of Obamba works from the upper Ogooué valley. valley. Identified as an "Otala variant" by Louis Perrois - named after a village between Akiéni and Okondja - this singular style has been described as the "Suns of Otala" by Frédéric Cloth, because of the aura that seems to emanate from it. the aura that seems to emanate from it. This masterpiece is distinguished by its elegant, sophisticated construction, faithful to the great canons of of Kota art, yet with an identity all its own. The domed forehead, typical of many Obamba models, supports a huge crescent that almost encircles the figure, as if to magnify its guardian function. guardian function. Long in the shadows, this ancient style marked the heyday of Western of Western taste for African art: as early as the 1930s, comparable pieces joined Carl Kjersmeier's collections of Carl Kjersmeier, Helena Rubinstein, André Breton and Paul Éluard. The example acquired in 1931 at Drouot by Sir Henry Wellcome, formerly owned by the two Parisian poets, is now in the Fowler Museum at UCLA (inv. no. 65.3802). Its aesthetics, rarity and formal proxi- mity with the work presented here underline the historical and artistic importance of the Kurc kota.