Lot Essay
Cf. Chaffin, A. and F., L'Art Kota, les figures de reliquaire, Meudon, 1980, p.237, fig.135
.jpg?w=1)
MBULU NGULU
Details
A SUPERB KOTA RELIQUARY FIGURE
Mbulu ngulu
The concave oval face with central brass cruciform motif with slender nose, the lenticular copper eyes with stippled chevrons at the corners, stippled lozenge mouth, the four quadrants with diagonal brass and copper strips, the brass-covered crescent crest above with incised grooves and with six brass-bound projections, the brass-covered crescent side panels each with incised cross-hatched ornament and with pendent brass cylinder, pierced lozenge body below
19in. (48.5cm.) high
Mbulu ngulu
The concave oval face with central brass cruciform motif with slender nose, the lenticular copper eyes with stippled chevrons at the corners, stippled lozenge mouth, the four quadrants with diagonal brass and copper strips, the brass-covered crescent crest above with incised grooves and with six brass-bound projections, the brass-covered crescent side panels each with incised cross-hatched ornament and with pendent brass cylinder, pierced lozenge body below
19in. (48.5cm.) high
Provenance
Frank Crowninshield, New York
Mrs. George W. Crawford
Mrs. George W. Crawford
Literature
Vanity Fair, March 1935
Masterpieces of African Art, 1954, no.149 (not illustrated)
Bolz, I., Zur Kunst in Gabon, Stilkritische Untersuchungen an Masken und Plastiken des Ogowe-Gebietes, in Ethnologia, Neue Folge, Band 3, Cologne, 1966, where the figure is reproduced in a 1925-1930 photograph. According to Bolz the figure at that time was in the collection of Helena Rubinstein. During the subsequent decades two of the spikes have been lost.
Masterpieces of African Art, 1954, no.149 (not illustrated)
Bolz, I., Zur Kunst in Gabon, Stilkritische Untersuchungen an Masken und Plastiken des Ogowe-Gebietes, in Ethnologia, Neue Folge, Band 3, Cologne, 1966, where the figure is reproduced in a 1925-1930 photograph. According to Bolz the figure at that time was in the collection of Helena Rubinstein. During the subsequent decades two of the spikes have been lost.
Exhibited
African Negro Art from the Collection of Frank Crowninshield, The Brooklyn Museum, 1937
The Brooklyn Museum, 1954
The Brooklyn Museum, 1954