Kota Figurine

Several tribes in Central Africa have a tradition of preserving the skulls of the most prominent members of the clan, which they place in baskets or wooden boxes on top of which they put a figurine that acts as a guardian against non initiated visitors. Then those reliquaries are buried.

The figurines are crafted out of wood, often partly or completely covered with copper.

Aside from their role as guardians of ancestors, those figurines are also used as puppets in dances, in which instances they represent the ancestors to whom their descent can address.

Kota and Fang mask figurines in limited editions of 25.