Detail View: The AMICA Library: Reliquary Head (Nlo Bieri)
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AMICA ID:
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MMA_.1979.206.229
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AMICA Library Year:
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2000
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Object Type:
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Sculpture
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Creator Nationality:
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African; Central African; Gabonese; Fang
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Creator Name-CRT:
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Fang peoples
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Title:
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Reliquary Head (Nlo Bieri)
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View:
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Full View
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Creation Date:
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19th-20th century
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Creation Start Date:
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1800
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Creation End Date:
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1999
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Materials and Techniques:
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Wood, metal, oil
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Dimensions:
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H. 18 5/16 in. (46.5 cm)
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AMICA Contributor:
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Owner Location:
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New York, New York, USA
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ID Number:
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1979.206.229
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Credit Line:
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The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
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Rights:
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Context:
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In Fang society, figurative sculptures produced for the ancestor cult, or 'bieri,' were designed to complement reliquary containers. Such works were generalized ancestral representations which were memorialized and addressed in times of need through relics preserved in the attached container. The reflective shine on the surface is the result of repeated applications of palm oil, a practice also employed on bieri initiates' bodies. The formal features of this Fang reliquary sculpture powerfully influenced Modernist artists who began collecting non-Western art during the early twentieth century. This particular work, admired for its balanced symmetry and juxtaposition of straight lines and sinuous curves, became part of the collection of the sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein in the 1920s. |
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Related Image Identifier Link:
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MMA_.ao1979.206.229.R.tif
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