A mbumba bwiti reliquary figure, with its charge and still possessing its mirror, and a coin taken from the resin below the charge, and wearing a hairstyle in parallel braids. The role of the mirror is to recall the presence of the ancestors who influence, and have the ability to influence, the lives of the living. The mirror is a symbolic and magical element such as a doorway to the world of the ancestors. The cult of the ancestors is at the heart of the practices of bwiti. Lumbu, Gabon Wood, glass, pigments (paint), resin, coin, and other elements constituting the load, small visible wear, beautiful and old patina of use. H. Height : 28 cm Provenance : Jacques Viault Collection. Publication : Lumbu, a sacred art, Éd. Gourcuff-Gradenigo and Galerie Bernard Dulon, 2016, reproduced p. 119, fig. 77.