Kota Obamba reliquary figure, Gabon

The Kota Obamba reliquary figure originates from the Obamba sub-group of the Kota people of Gabon, Central Africa, created as a guardian figure placed atop bark boxes or baskets containing ancestral relics and bones. These figures, known as mbulu ngulu or bwete, are characterized by their highly abstracted, two-dimensional faces sheathed in copper and brass foil over a wooden core, serving as powerful spiritual intermediaries between the living and the dead. Collected extensively by European modernists in the early 20th century, they profoundly influenced Cubism and Western avant-garde art movements.