Gabonese Janiform Osseyba or Reliquary Figure Mounted on Gong Currency, Based

A small brass guardian, set atop a great deal of hammered steel.

This janiform osseyba, or reliquary figure, mounted on gong currency, is Kota / Mahongwe, from Gabon in Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is brass over carved wood, with a steel gong. Kota reliquary figures traditionally watched over ancestral relics, and iron gongs served as objects of status and exchange in parts of Central Africa. A pointed brass face with round eyes and a zigzag band sits on an open wooden neck, above a long, flared gong in dark, dimpled metal. Forty-two inches high.

Two kinds of authority, one above the other.