Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)

Late 19th-early 20th century

Kota: Shamaye
Gabon
Central Africa

Such flat, abstracted figures made of wood and brass were originally attached to baskets or bark boxes and served as guardians of the enclosed ancestral relics—typically the skulls and other bones of important men within the clan. Around 1930, the creation of these reliquary guardian figures ceased in response to the spread of Christianity throughout the region. Many sculptures were destroyed in the accompanying social upheaval.

Status: On View, Gallery 137
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Kota
Title: Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)
Place: Gabon (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1875–1925
Medium: Wood, brass, and ivory
Dimensions: H.: 34.3 cm (13 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: The Art Institute of Chicago, Purchased with funds provided by the Alsdorf Foundation
Reference Number: 1968.788

Allen Wardwell, “New Acquisitions of African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” African Arts, vol. 4, no. 1 (1970), p. 19, fig. 7.
Louis Perrois, “L’Art Kota-Mahongwe,” Arts d’Afrique Noire, vol. 20 (Winter 1976), pp. 1–37; p. 33 (ill.).
Christie’s, Paris, Collection Vérité: Arts d’Afrique, d’Océanie et d’Amérique du Nord, Nov. 21, 2017, lot 91 (illus.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 54, pp. 138-139 (ill.).

Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth, Texas, “The Language of Beauty in African Art”, April 3-July 31, 2022; Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 20, 2022 - Feb. 27, 2023, cat. no. 54.

Henri (died 1992) and Hélène Kamer (later Hélène Leloup), Henri A. Kamer Gallery, New York, NY, by 1968 [incoming purchase consideration documented in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1968.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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