Lot 705
A Pair of African Carved Wood Male and Female Cult House Posts, c. 1950s, Mitsogo, Gabon, each of columnar form carved around the mid-section with a male or female figure between a geometrically carved support and crown, red, yellow, black and white pigment, male height 64 in., female height 65 in. Provenance: With Thomas D. Slater, Indianapolis, IN; to Stuart Struever, Santa Fe, NM; to Taylor A. Dale, TAD Tribal Art, Santa Fe, NM; to current owner Note: The Mitsogo have preserved their traditions more fully than any other people in present day Gabon. Most notable of these traditions is the Bwiti, a spiritual discipline connected with commemoration, divination, and initiation. The cult house shrine, or ebandza, located at the village center, is the focus of many Bwiti rites. Within the ebandza the right part is male, the left, female; thus carved wood posts, like the painted, male and female matched pair here, were symbolically placed into the shrine, with the male at the right and the female at the left. The male column represents the first ancestor in human form, called Nzambe-Kana, while the female column represents the first-woman, motherof humanity, Disumba.
Starting Bid: $1300
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