Rare, Powerful Ambete Reliquary Figure, Gabon (Female)

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Rare, Powerful Ambete Reliquary Figure, Gabon (Female):
$750.00

These rare and fasinating reliquary figures are always in male/female pairs. This is the female: I am selling the male concurrently on -- please check my other items.
The Ambete are part of the same group asthe Kota and the Punu and share with them a cult surrounding ancestral bones. Their reliquary figuresnare particulary interesting. They are quite large, columnar in shape and have a hatch at the back. It is sometime claimed that bones were kept in this compartment. In all the examples I have seen, the space available is much smaller than the reliquaries used by the Fang, Kota, etc.. I am inclined to think that apart from from some fragments, the compartment was chiefly intended to receive bilongo -- magical substances to keep the guardian powerful -- rather than human remains
Interestingly, the hatches of these two examples contain a large clam shell, fastened in place with a nail and set in a bed of raffia, apparently a fetish object, leaving little room for anything else.
The figures are quite large at 29\" and wear necklaces of seeds. The eyes are made of cowrie shells
The faces are exremely distinctive, lozenge-shaped with a central brow beneath which are smallish, fierce features designed to scare away potential thieves of the precious bones. Rows of teeth give the mouth bite.
This is a rare and powerful figure, seldom offered for sale.