rare Fang Figure Cameroon, Rio Muni
H: 35 cm (approx. 1' 2'')
Estimated age: end of 19th or early 20th century
Expertise: Roul Lehuard
Provenance: Austrian private collection
The Fang people are a Central African ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea as well as in northern and southern Cameroon. Early ethnologists conjectured them to be Nilotic peoples from the upper Nile region, but a combination of evidence now indicates that they are of Bantu origin and began moving back into Africa around the seventh or eighth century, possibly because of invasions from the north and the wars of West Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The traditional religion of the Fang centered around ancestors, who are believed to wield power in the afterlife as they did as living leaders of the community. The skulls and long bones of these men were believed to retain power and to have control over the wellbeing of the family. Usually the relics were kept hidden away from the uninitiated and women. Wooden sculptures, known as reliquary guardian figures, were attached to the boxes containing the bones. Some believe that the figures are an abstract portrait of the deceased individual, while others argue that they serve to protect the spirit of the deceased from evil. Fang statuary can be classified into three main groups: heads on long necks, half figures and full figures, standing or seated. Carved with great simplicity, at the same time they exhibit a high degree of sophistication in the coordination of bulbous forms.