“The Ambete live on the frontier with Gabon and the Republic of Congo, and are related to the Kota population. They carved three types of sculpture: heads, busts and full figures with a hollowed back. The latter have short legs, an elongated columnar torso and a flattened face with a triangular chin, an open mouth showing teeth and a triangular nose, all resting under a ridged coiffure. They are thought to have a connection with the ancestor’s cult – they were either used as reliquaries or placed alongside ancestor bones in a basket.
Heads and busts were probably positioned on poles and placed in front of the chief’s house. They may have had an apotropaic or emblematic purpose.”
Source:
Baquart, Jean-Baptiste. The Tribal Arts of Africa. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc. 1998. Print.
