Sculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble (mbulu ngulu)

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Sculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble (mbulu ngulu) as sculpture (Africa, Central Africa, Gabon, Kota-style maker · probably 1800s).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

The diamond-shaped "body" of this sculpture was originally pushed into a container of ancestral relics (bones) up to its "shoulders." Metal covers only areas of the wood that were left visible.

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected

FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this sculpture as Wood, copper alloy, and iron.

The museum's collection notes: The ethnic map of eastern Gabon is extremely complicated as a result of continuous migratory movements since the 17th century. Kota is the name of one of three culturally closely related people. All share the tradition of commemorating and honoring ancestors through the preservation and worship of sacred ancestral relics within cylindrical bark containers or bound in fiber packets. Covered with sheets of copper and brass, this abstract wooden human-shaped figure—distilled to a planar surface—served as a guardian set atop a basket container holding the skull, certain bones, and other relics of a deceased man. It belonged to a religious institu

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtSculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble (mbulu ngulu)

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