KOTA
KOTA
Decorated Kota skull.
20th century.Length: 16 cm.Unlike peoples who concealed bones in baskets topped with a wooden carving clad in strips of copper and brass, intended to honour the memory of the ancestor, the Kota sometimes chose to transform an ancestor’s skull itself into a relic enhanced by art.This is the skull of a bonobo, a chimpanzee regarded as a primordial ancestor by the Kota. It is decorated with cowrie shells (Monetaria moneta) using a resin-based adhesive. Traces of red pigment (padauk powder), intended to restore ‘symbolic life’ to the ancestor, are visible around the circle of cowrie shells (Monetaria moneta). The whole piece is presented in a circular woven basket, with a decorative border of raffia, itself adorned with cowrie shells (Monetaria moneta) and seeds.
KOTA
Decorated Kota skull.
20th century.Length: 16 cm.Unlike peoples who concealed bones in baskets topped with a wooden carving clad in strips of copper and brass, intended to honour the memory of the ancestor, the Kota sometimes chose to transform an ancestor’s skull itself into a relic enhanced by art.This is the skull of a bonobo, a chimpanzee regarded as a primordial ancestor by the Kota. It is decorated with cowrie shells (Monetaria moneta) using a resin-based adhesive. Traces of red pigment (padauk powder), intended to restore ‘symbolic life’ to the ancestor, are visible around the circle of cowrie shells (Monetaria moneta). The whole piece is presented in a circular woven basket, with a decorative border of raffia, itself adorned with cowrie shells (Monetaria moneta) and seeds.
