| Ambete / Mbete figures |
| The Ambete (Mbete, Mbede, Mbete and Mbeti) claiming a Kota origin live in the Republic of Congo near the northern frontier of Gabon and also in northern Gabon. In view of the shifting location of the peoples living in this region, it is impossible to retrace the precise history of the Mbete culture. Certain ethnological and sociological aspects of their life are relatively well known, and we know that the secret societies were numerous and powerful. The Ambete do not have any centralized political organization; they practice ancestor worship. They carved three types of sculpture: heads, busts and full figures. The latter are thought to have a connection with the ancestor’s cult – they were either used as reliquaries or placed alongside ancestor bones in a basket. Heads and busts were probably positioned on poles and placed in front of the chief’s house. They may have had an apotropaic and emblematic purpose. Instead, statues are provided with a dorsal, rectangular cavity, or the body itself may be in the shape of a reliquary chest. In this case, generally the head alone is sculpted in the round, the arms and lower extremities only roughly carved out. The faces of the Mbete statues show a prominent forehead overhanging a hollow receding face with a rectangular mouth and broadly carved features, so that the original tree-trunk form is still visible. The arms are often fixed to the body and the hands and feet barely discernible. The shoulders are thrown forward, the arms slightly bent. Frequently, the hairdo, composed of horizontal loops, is parted by a central crest. The relics could be set inside the statue. In this case the upper body of the statuette is particularly elongated and the back hollowed out with a box-shaped cavity accessible through a small door held in place with a thread. It is thought that this would hold the long bones of hunters who had played an important role in tribal life. (Information from: acsu.buffalo.edu) I do not have any Ambete figures in my collection. The information and images below are for reference purposes only. |
| A fine and rare Ambete female figure standing on elongated, wedge-shaped feet, the thick, faceted bent legs with angular ankles and knees supporting the cylindrical torso with rounded hips, prominent pudendum and conical breasts, the helmet-like head with abstract mask-like features including a notched mouth, protruding nose and slit-like eyes framed by large oval ears pierced at the center for insertion (?) and wearing a domed geometric coiffure; fine aged patina of kaolin with areas of black pigment at the feet, hands, neck and head. height 14 3/4 in. (37.5cm.) Cf. Robbins and Nooter (1989: 348) for closely related examples. Ambete figures are rare, and little is known about their use or funtion. Full figures among the Ambete are often found in pairs and are thought to represent ancestors. The offered female figure is most certainly by the same carver and is perhaps even the pendant work to a male figure, formerly in the collection of Paul Colin, Paris (Picard, Paris, 12 May 1992: lot 7). http://search.sothebys.com/jsps/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=34BB7 |
| Sotheby's - New York Arts of Africa, Oceania & The Americas Auction Date : May 17, 2002 Lot 32 : A FINE AND RARE AMBETE PAIR Description each of similar form, standing on wedge-shaped feet with bent legs leading to cylindrical torsos with bent arms held to the front, beneath shelf-like shoulders, the large heads with heart-shaped facial planes and delicately carved features including small mouths, pointed noses and slit eyes and wearing ridged coiffures; fine honey brown patina with encrusted kaolin and areas of black. Estimate:$ 20,000 - $ 30,000 Price Realized: $ 32,265 Provenance According to the information accompanying the figures, Anatole France Collection, 1904 Drouôt, Paris, 30 November 1981, lot 46 Pace Primitive and Ancient Art, New York Cf. Robbins and Nooter (1989: 348) for a related Ambete pair. |
| Male Reliquary Figure Ambete Gabon, Africa Collection ID: A206 Wood w/ shell, metal & textile Early 20th Century, 44.75" H x 9" W The Ambete live on the border of Gabon and the Republic of Congo. They are related to the Kota. Their fully carved figures, such as this excellent example, had a niche carved into the back for magical ingredients. They are believed to function as guardians of the remains of ancestral bones housed in a separate hut in the village. Very Fine Condition http://www.missinglinkcollection.com/current-af/pages/A206-f.html |
| Brass Covered Reliquary Figure Ambete Gabon, Africa Collection ID: A213 Wood w/ metal, fiber 20th Century, 29" H x 8" W An important and fine metal-covered reliquary figure in classic pose with legs bent at knees, arms held firmly at sides and staring eyes fixed straight ahead. A hinged door on the reverse containing ritual material in the hollow carved into the male figures back. Connected with a cult of the ancestors. http://www.missinglinkcollection.com/currentaf/pages/A213-ls.html |
| This object was for sale at an auction site - Arte Primitivo Lot# & Name: 422. Ambete Fetish Figure Estimate: $1,250.00 Category: African Sub Category: West Africa Culture or Country: Tsogo, Gabon. Period: -- Size: 19"H. Description: Carved wood, standing, stylized human figure holding hands to stomach having striated hairdo with a central crest. Inset cowrie shell eyes and metal teeth. Votive compartment in back. Painted white ground with black highlights. Surface wear, left hand and tip of left foot reattached, otherwise intact. Mounted on a black base. Provenance: Private NYC collection, purportedly ex. Pierre Verite collection. |
| This object was for sale at an auction site - Arte Primitivo Lot# & Name: 423. Ambete Fetish Figure Estimate: $1,250.00 Category: African Sub Category: West Africa Culture or Country: Tsogo, Gabon. Period: -- Size: 18-3/4"H. Description: Carved wood figure depicting the upper body terminating with an integral, double tiered disc base. Hands held in front of stomach, stylized relief facial features with rectangular mouth, central crested hairdo. White pigmented surface with painted black highlights, surface somewhat encrusted. Right hand reattached and surface a bit flaky otherwise intact. Provenance: Private N.Y.C collection, purportedly Ex. Tony Chen and Alfred Scheinberg collections. |
| Statua reliquiario (Reliquary statue) Etnia Ambete, Gabon (Ambete, Gabon) XIX secolo (19th Century) Legno policromo, h. cm. 79 (Polychrome wood, height 70cm 30.8 inches) Provenienza/Provenance Aristide Courtois, Charles Ratton, René Rasmussen, Galerie Monbrison, Hubert Goldet Prezzo di aggiudicazione in asta nel 2001/Sold at auction in 2001: 1,851,000 USD Foto tratta dal catalogo d'asta "Collezione Goldet" / Photo from the catalog "Goldet Collection" http://www.craftart.it/arteafricana/capolavori/aste.htm Photo on the right is the same figure from the book: The Tribal Arts of Africa |
| These two Mbete reliquary guardian figures are on display at the Worcester African Cultural Center (WACC). The pieces were purchased in Chad and brought to the United States in early December of 2003. The figures are on currently included in an upcoming exhibit at the Worcester Cultural Center. Traditionally, the cultural role of these sculptures was to protect the ancestral remains contained within the small cavities carved into the backs of the guardian figures. Their religion, bwiti, is based in the power of ancestral spirits. It was believed that small bones, such as finger bones and pieces of the skull, retained the power of deceased ancestors. By preserving these relics, the power of the deceased ancestor would provide protections and blessings on the family members caring for the remains. The Mbete tradition was distinctive to the Ogowe River region in the sense that the guardian figures were also the containers of the ancestral remains. The sculptures were symbolic and decorative containers, with the true value credited to the relics held within. This has allowed for the removal of such guardian figures without upsetting the significance of the traditional belief. Thus, most guardian figures produced in the Ogowe River area today are created for tourist trade. |
| Images above from the book: African Art in American Collections 901. Female figure/Wood, metal, pigments/ 27 1/2 in. (82.6 cm) Pierre Matisse 902. Male figure/Wood, pigment, beads, cowrie shells/32 1/2 in. (82.6 cm) Pierre Matisse 903. Female figure/Wood, pigment/22 1/2 in. (57.2 cm) Fred and Rita Richman 904. Male figure/Wood, pigment/23 1/2 in. (59.7 cm) Fred and Rita Richman |
| Ambete statue whose head forms the top of a reliquary. Congo. Ambete. Wood. H: 80 cm. D: 22 cm. Musee de I'Afrique et de I'Oceanie, Paris. From the book: Black Africa by Laure Meyer |
| Sotheby's May 2003 A RARE GABON, PROBABLY BAKOTA, FEMALE RELIQUARY GUARDIAN FIGURE of cubistic form, standing on fragmentary, wedge-shaped feet, the angular legs supporting rounded hips and prominent pudendum, the barrel-shaped torso beneath the elongated neck and stylized head with heart-shaped facial plane, straight nose and rounded oval eyes framed by demi¬lune ears; the whole covered with brass plates with areas of repousse and attached with flat nails. height 18 1/2in. 47cm PROVENANCE Acquired from Pace Gallery, New York, 1992 See Perrois (2002: 88) for a closely related male figure and a female figure. The male now in The Musee de I'Homme was formerly in the collection of Paul Guillaume. The female was collected between 1895 and 1914 by Paul Scagliola, a forester working in Gabon. For another very similar male figure from a private Belgian collection see, number 22538, Van Rijn Archives. For a related figure from the Schoffel Collection which is stylistically close, to the Ambete see Chaffin and Chaffin ;1980(: 295 figure 178). According to Schoffel (ibidt, this figure "can ba attributed to the Ambete. It is an important piece 'for the understanding of the relationship between Fang and Kota art. This is a statuette treated in a cubist manner. Its face is plated. ...The shape of the body is Fang.' According to Perrois, the small corpus of abstract brass-covered figures suggest an affiliation between pigmented Ambete reliquary figures with dorsal cavities from the old style of the Ambete-Obamba from northwest Congo, and the more well-documented styles of the Bakota from Haut-Ogooue. See Perrois (2002) for related figures and further discussion of Ambete art and its relationship to the artistic traditions of the Bakota. estimate $15,000-20,000 sold for $10,000 |
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