Lot 102 Dα

The following three lots were given as a gift to Samuel Mañá, grandfather of the present owner, by Eulàlia Soler, circa 1958.
Eulàlia Soler lived in Fernando Poo (present day Boiko) with her father and moved to Barcelona, circa 1920, to settle in the neighbourhood of Sarrià. She and Samuel Mañá became neighbours in Sarrià circa 1954/5. Research has identified a Francisco Soler who requested land in Fernando Poo in 1887/8 but we have not established with certainly that this was the ancestor of Eulàlia Soler.


Cf. de Santos, F., ‘Rediscovered Byeri at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Madrid’, in Tribal Art Magazine, no.94, Winter, 2009, pp.112, fig.3 and p.115, fig.8, for two similar figures collected in 1901 by Manuel Martinez de la Escalera. Manuel Martinez de la Escalera travelled on an expedition with Amado Ossorio, the aim of which was to establish the border of Spanish Guinea and to collect museum specimens. After they parted company de la Escalera travelled through the ‘itemu’ villages in the valleys of the rivers Kongüe and Outamboni. Four figures collected by him are preserved in the museum and are recorded as coming from the villages of Akan, Alan and Nkol in the region of the river Kongüe from groups identifying as Atamakèk and Ngama, Okak Fang groups to the south of the River Benito (called Woleu in Gabon).

The figure displays the classic traits of the Okak with its naturalistic proportions, large head with brass eyes and rounded shoulders.