Reliquary Guardian Figure (Mbulu Ngulu or Mbulu Viti)

Original Language TitleMbula Viti

CultureKota peoples

Date19th century

MediumWood, copper, copper alloy, and iron

DimensionsOverall: 24 7/8 × 16 × 3 inches (63.17 × 40.64 × 7.62 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund

Object number99-20

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

African Art

Terms

DescriptionA two-sided face (janus) with headdress and base, sculpted from a single wood piece that was then covered with thin sheets of metal. Each side is relatively two-dimensional and has a face. On one side (considered the major side) the face is convex and relatively naturalistic with complete facial features (eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth). The other side has a concave and stylized face with eyes as the only facial feature. Below the faces is a diamond-shaped hollow base, the top half of which is covered with metal. Above the faces is a cresent-shaped headdress; on each side of the face are flat horizontal projections, the tops of which are rounded and the bottoms are straight across. The metal sheets are attached with hand-made iron nails and tacks. Designs are embossed in the metal sheets.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

This double-sided, dual-faced figure once guarded a bark or raffia reliquary containing the skulls and bones of revered ancestors. As sacred relics, ancestral skeletal remains were consulted for aid and advice prior to any major family or community undertaking. The reliquary guardian figure's wooden core was covered with copper or copper-alloy, investing it with a shiny "whiteness" believed to enhance its clairvoyance and powers of protection from malevolent forces. In its two faces, this figure displays both an abstracted, concave style and a more organic, naturalistic approach.

Provenance

Acquired in Africa by Ulysse Eugène Foufé (1866-1958), France, by 1914 [1];

Purchased at Arts primitifs; Amérique, Océanie, Afrique, documentation, Collection Tristan Tzara et à divers amateurs , Loudmer, Paris at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 24, 1988, lot 278, probably by the dealer Merton D. Simpson (1928-2013), New York, 1988;

Purchased from Merton Simpson by Marc (1930-2012) and Denyse Ginzberg collection, New York, 1988-1999;

Purchased from Marc and Denyse Ginzberg, through L & R Entwistle & Co., Ltd., by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1999.

NOTES:

[1] According to the lot entry in Arts primitifs; Amérique, Océanie, Afrique, documentation, Collection Tristan Tzara et à divers amateurs (Paris: Guy Loudmer, 1988), 128, this object was brought from Africa to France by Battalion Commander Foufé, who served in the 5th Regiment Colonial Infantry, Middle Congo Battalion, October 25, 1911 to April 25, 1914. See also the African Heritage Documentation & Research Centre database, www.ahdrc.eu, object no. 0046875.

Published References

Arts primitifs; Amérique, Océanie, Afrique, documentation, Collection Tristan Tzara et à divers amateurs (Paris: Guy Loudmer, 1988), 128-129, (repro.).

Newsletter (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Winter 2000), cover, 2, (repro.).

Newsletter (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Summer 2003), 7, (repro.).

Joyce M. Youmans, “African Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,” African Arts 33, no. 4 (Winter 2000), 56, 61, (repro.).

Marc Ginzberg, The African Art Collection of Marc and Denyse Ginzberg (New York: private edition, 2003), nos. 44A, 44B.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 246, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.