Mask - Gabon (No reserve price)

This Fang sculpture forms a type of prestigious ancestral figure that presided over the reliquary baskets.

Black patina, granular residue deposits, erosion, the integrity of the work was not affected by being displayed on a pedestal.

Among the Fang of Cameroon and Gabon, each family possesses a "Byeri", or reliquary box, in which the bones of ancestors are kept. These boxes were guarded by the oldest man in the village, the esa. The reliquary boxes were topped with a statue or a head that acted as guardian of the "byeri" boxes.

They were also used during initiation ceremonies for young people linked to the So society. The term Angokh nlo byeri means "head alone of the ancestor", as opposed to statues. On festive occasions, the statues were