Kota Reliquary figure

The Kota reliquary figures guarding reliquary baskets (Bwete), have been well known and appreciated, since the beginning of European interest in African art. The figure is carved of wood and covered with ornamented brass sheeting, while the back is usually left undecorated. Although it has a two dimensional aspect, the inner play of the concave face with the convex - bulging forehead,brows and nose - produces definitely a relief effect. According to Siroto, many people of tropical Africa applied thin pieces of metal to their traditional sculpture in wood, but probably the most striking use of brass and copper over wood is in the Bewete figures of Equatorial Africa (L. Siroto 1968 vol.1 n0.3:22-27).