Female Reliquary Figure

This figure has the characteristic idealized Fang heart-shaped face with equally idealized and pronounced concavity. The coiffure is a helmet-wig (ekuma) with a band-like tress that extends across the forehead and falls from both sides of the head, and a thick central tress which reaches down the nape. The figure is in a seated posture, on a circular base, with her arms resting on her thighs.  A. LaGamma, states, “Whether seated or standing, Fang figures often rest their hands on their thighs or abdomen in an expectant stance”. The only adornment added to her graceful simplicity is the carved bands around her upper arms.