Master of the Incised Triangle, Kota, and others
Female Reliquary Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)
Kota, Obamba, Early 20th century
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- Artist: Master of the Incised Triangle
- Culture region: Kota
- Culture sub-region: Ndassa
Female Reliquary Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)
Kota, Obamba, Early 20th century
Physical Qualities
Wood, copper alloy, iron, 23 x 13 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (58.4 x 34.3 x 8.9 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Alan Wurtzburger
Object Number
1954.145.64
Guardian figures like this one once gleamed from within the dim recesses of shelters where they protected and honored the bones of ancestors. The shining copper and brass surface of this sculpture not only suggests the watery divide between this world and the afterlife, but also the figure's power to see into the beyond and deflect evil forces. The artist who created this work distinguished himself from other sculptors by carving incised triangles into the borders of the guardians he created.
'The Wurtzburger Collection of African Sculpture,' The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jan. 12-Feb. 14, 1954; Cat. 64, illus. p. 25.
'Wurtzburger Collection,' School of Advanced Studies, JHU, Washington D.C., June 21-Aug. 31, 1954.
'African Sculpture,' The Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, N.Y., Oct. 8-Nov. 7, 1954.
'Tribal Arts of West Africa II,' at The Maryland Academy of Sciences, Jan, 1971-May 1972, Cat. #107, ill.
'Nigeria: Art and Everyday Life,' The Walters Art Gallery, June 16-July 7, 1978.
"Meditations on African Art: Light," Dec 17, 2006 - Apr 1, 2007, BMA, Karen Milbourne.
African Reinstallation, "Sacred Art," Apr 2015, Wurtzburger Galleries, Kathryn Gunsch.
'Wurtzburger Collection,' School of Advanced Studies, JHU, Washington D.C., June 21-Aug. 31, 1954.
'African Sculpture,' The Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, N.Y., Oct. 8-Nov. 7, 1954.
'Tribal Arts of West Africa II,' at The Maryland Academy of Sciences, Jan, 1971-May 1972, Cat. #107, ill.
'Nigeria: Art and Everyday Life,' The Walters Art Gallery, June 16-July 7, 1978.
"Meditations on African Art: Light," Dec 17, 2006 - Apr 1, 2007, BMA, Karen Milbourne.
African Reinstallation, "Sacred Art," Apr 2015, Wurtzburger Galleries, Kathryn Gunsch.
Frederick John Lamp, "See the Music Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art." New York: Prestel, 2003, p. 60, ill.
BMA. "African Spirit Series" brochure 2006-2007. ill.
Lillian Maria Burgunder, "Meditations on African Art: Light," "Newsletter of the Print, Drawing & Photograph Society of the BMA," Spring 2007, Vol. XXV, No. 1, p. 12, ill. p. 12.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
"Female Reliquart Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)" BMA Today, issue 160 (summer 2019): p. 21
On View: Wurtzburger, Hallway
