Mbulu Ngulu (Reliquary Figure)
Mbulu Ngulu (Reliquary Figure)
Maker
unknown Kota
(Gabon, Africa)
Date19th century
MediumWood with beaten copper-alloy overlay
Dimensions24 1/2 x 15 x 3 in. (62.2 x 38.1 x 7.6 cm)
ClassificationsTribal Art
Credit LineAlfred Stieglitz Collection, Co-owned by Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
Accession number
ASC.2012.1
On View
Not on viewCollections
Label TextThis reliquary figure has lived many lives. Believed to protect living descendants, the remains of important ancestors were held in a basket once attached to the lower half of the diamond-shaped base. Light moves across the figure’s reflective metal and evokes the flashes of insight ancestors can provide for their descendants.
Esta figura de relicario ha vivido muchas vidas. Creyendo que protegían a sus descendientes vivos, los restos de los antepasados importantes se guardaban en una cesta que se sujetaba a la mitad inferior de la base en forma de diamante. La luz se mueve a través del metal reflectante de la figura y evoca destellos de conocimiento que los antepasados pueden ofrecer a sus descendientes.
