"Acquisitions 1972", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 32, no. 1 (1973): p. 20-30.
","citation":""Acquisitions 1972", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 32, no. 1 (1973): p. 20-30.
, p. 25 (illus.); p. 30","date":1973,"id":3442,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774431"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"African and Oceanic Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199315,"term":"African Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1900-1945","dateend":1999,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Bwiti (reliquary figure)","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"y1972-34","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"Elder members of Obamba and Hongwe communities commissioned these figural sculptures to go on top of containers or bundles holding the relics of influential deceased family members. The wooden figures are sheathed in pieces of brass and copper—valuable materials secured through trade with Europeans—that were scoured to gleam like the surface of a body of water. In many equatorial African societies, the realm beyond the water’s surface is associated with ancestral and supernatural forces. Reliquary ensembles placed on family altars served as agents of ancestral power and were essential for the transmission of family history and genealogy. During the period of French colonial rule (1885–1960), these figures were often removed from their ensembles and separated from the human remains contained in their bases.","remarks":"CRSS_19_CLA – Day 1 Cataloguing (group chat for y1972-34, 2016-49)"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Acquired by Governor Millet near Makokou, Gabon, by 1920s; Mme. Krawitz, Paris, France; [Christian Duponcheel, Brussels, Belgium]; Jean Mestach, Paris, France; [Mathias Komor Works of Fine Art, New York, NY]; purchased by John B. Elliott, New York, NY by 1972; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, 1972.\n","remarks":"Formatted from KWL's provenance notes -PML"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nThis Hongwe reliquary guardian figure is an example of one of the most stylized forms of African sculpture. The combination of an abstract, leaf-shaped face with recognizable eyes and nose above a minimalist base results in an arresting work of art. The foliate face has a slightly concave plane, below which the base extends in the shape of a lozenge. Lashed to an opening in the base would have been a bundle or basket of relics, consisting of the skulls of deceased family members and other sacred materials. The guardian figure protected the relics from malevolent forces and trespassing individuals. A copper wire wrapped around the face and a hammered copper strip extending down the forehead enhanced the guardian’s power, as the shiny metal could reflect and deflect unwelcome viewers. In times of community crisis, families would bring their reliquaries together, combining the reliquaries’ individual powers to entreat the ancestors for aid and protection.","remarks":null}],"datebegin":1870,"sortnumber":"1972 34y","published_date":"2026-06-27 02:00:25.619096","objectid":31750,"dimensions":"58.5 cm x 27.5 cm x 8.2 cm (23 1/16 x 10 13/16 x 3 1/4 in.)","on_view":true}