Fang people (Cameroon and Gabon)
Fang people (Cameroon and Gabon)
Reliquary figure (Bieri)
20th century
Wood, copper alloy, plant fiber and incrustation
Bieri figures are attached to cylindrical bark containers that contain relics, usually bones of ancestors.
The figure personifies the collective qualities of the ancestors and is regarded as the reliquary guardian.
Lowe Art Museum
Gift of Allan Potamkin, 2007.48.26