Kota reliquary figures were among the first African works to gain admiration in the West. Their anthropomorphic shape, with oversized head and lozenge-shaped upper torso, especially appealed to artists at the beginning of the twentieth century. This work was Mrs. McMillan's first acquisition.

In their original settings, these figures guarded the bones and other relics of important ancestors, which family groups placed in baskets or wrapped in bundles and kept in small shelters. These potent reliquaries protected the living.

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