Miniature head

Stylistically this miniature ivory head belongs to the Nzaman-Betsi group of the Fang, who live in the western part of Fang country: the exquisite detail of the hair, braided to a queue at the back, the concave face and ‘cowrieshell’ eyes are all characteristic. This style is, however, typically represented by wooden heads some 9-12 inches (22-30 cm) high or by whole figures, carved as guardians of bark boxes containing the bones of ancestors (see UEA 240), and this miniature head does not fit into that pattern.

In Gabon, miniature heads do in fact occur on the ends of fly-whisk handles, ceremonial iron gongs and ivory horns (Perrois, 1979: pls. 233-5). Perrois’s plate 233, illustrating the end detail of an ivory horn from the Tsogho, who live to the south and south-west of Fang country, makes it almost certain that this head is the end of a similar oliphant from the Fang.

In the Gabon area, if a ritual object (such as this oliphant would have been) was damaged, it might be thrown away or burnt before its replacement with a fresh piece. Such a practice is at least one hypothesis to explain the fire-damaged condition of this head.

Margaret Carey, 1997

Entry taken from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection, Vol. 2: Pacific, African and Native North American Art, edited by Steven Hooper (Yale University Press, 1997) p. 172.