Female Reliquary Figure (The Black Venus)

This statue is a fine copy of the “Black Venus” of the musee Dapper in Paris. The original sculpture was named so by Picasso and the French avant-garde artists. "she is the archetype of the style of the southern Fang Betsi…”  The even-handed tranquility, composure, the capacity to hold opposites in balance, and the balance in proportion rather than in movement –  these were the aesthetic qualities the Fang elders held in great esteem, as observed by James Fernandez. This fine female reliquary figure is  seated, with a  plinth that merges with her buttocks and thighs which, in the past, allowed it to be inserted into a reliquary receptacle