Master of the Incised Triangle
Date:
Early 20th Century
Medium:
Wood, copper alloy, iron
Size:
Depth: 3 1/2″
Width: 13 1/2″
Height: 23″

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.

Gift of Alan Wurtzburger BMA 1954.145.64

The Tradition of Reliquaries

Transcript

[Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch] The shape of the mount that’s holding this reliquary upright is meant to evoke the basket that Kota owners would’ve put their revered ancestors’ relics in. A number of years after such illustrious ancestors had died, the skull would be exhumed from the grave and put into the reliquary basket. Now, that may seem like a strange way to honor your ancestors, but you should remember that the Kota, like many Americans today, moved fairly frequently. And so this was one way of ensuring that you could still revere those that you’d lost and loved, but have them with you even though you were moving. And so the
reliquary basket is the most important part of the object, the one that carries the skulls of those who are being honored by the family and their lineage. And the reliquary ornament on top is merely a decoration for this more important group below
[Aaron Henkin] Reliquaries, or objects for holding sacred bodily remains, are a tradition in many religions, including Catholicism and Buddhism, in particular.