H: 23 inches, W: 7 inches

Materials: wood, twine

The Fang ethnic group number about 900,000 and constitute a vast village communities, established in a large zone of Atlantic equatorial Africa: consisting Cameroon, continental Equatorial Guinea and northern part of Gabon, on the right bank of the Ogowe River.  Fang people used masks and statues/figures in their secret societies, the “bieri”, or ancestor sculpture.  They celebrate this figure when a new crop was planted or before fishing or going hunting.  The Fang bieri has the proportion of a new born, this emphasizing the groups’ continuity with its ancestor and with (three faces); the three classes of society: the “not-yet-born”, the living and the dead.  This stunning fine figure shown here was also used for the initiation of young males into their secret societies as members.

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