Baga had rich traditions of multifunctional masks and sculpture, many of which were suppressed with the advent of Islam. The best known of these is the massive Nimba (or Dumba) mask, with its great cantilevered large nose, a large pair of breasts, crested head supported on the upper part of a female torso, carved so as to rest on the shoulders of the wearer, his body hidden in raffia fiber. The mask can also stand on four legs. Sterile women in the Simo secret society invoked it as the Mother of Fertility, and it was used at the first-fruit (rice) rituals, symbolically associating female fertility with the increase of the grain. This mask appears at the harvest and threshing of the rice crop, is worn by dancers at birth, marriages and other joyful ceremonies. This mask represented the very essence of Baga dignity and culture.

This exquisite casting is a fine example of one of the most famous metalworking traditions in world history. The details on this piece are stunning, from the intricate mudfish design, to the detailed rendering of its seat. One can only imagine the true splendor of the old court of Benin. Though this is a "modern" reproduction, that is less than 100 years old, its beauty as an expression of the intricate, original style cannot be underestimated.

The story of the famous metal castings from the ancient Kingdom of Benin and the city of Ife, produced to honor their king or "Oba," is both fascinating and sad. Known by European explorers as early as the 15th century, the remarkable skill of the brassworker's guilds of the ancient Kingdom of Benin became known throughout the civilized world, making the original heads, plaques, and full figures as well as bronze stools as the earliest pieces of collected African art. Many of these valuable pieces, unfortunately, were either stolen or bought illegally. The final insult to this proud and powerful kingdom occurred in 1897, when the British, in an effort to seize more control over important trade routes, routed the city of Ife and stole almost all of the existing bronze and brass masterpieces. They have resided in the British Museum ever since, despite many attempts by the Nigerian Government and private individuals from around the world to have them returned. Though a few have been recovered, the lion's share of this important part of Nigerian heritage remains in London. The stunning recastings and faithful reproductions remain popular today, and command rather high prices, because they faithfully represent a zenith in the history of metalworking.

The land of the Kota, numbering some 75,000, is situated in the eastern part of Gabon, extending slightly into the People’s Republic of the Congo. The Kota are actually a number of groups of peoples with common cultural traits. Although these peoples share many cultural traits, they are by no means homogeneous. The rain forests which surround the Kota are farmed with slash and burn techniques, combined with crop rotation. By moving crops from year to year, erosion and soil depletion is avoided. The main crops grown are plantains and manioc.The Kota live in villages comprising two or more clans. Clans in turn comprise several lineages or family groups that trace their descent from a common lineage ancestor. This is an important point related to their art, for like the Fang, the Kota revere the relics of ancestors. Ancestor worship formed the core of the family group’s religious and social life. At the death of a chief, the initiates would take from the body of the deceased various relics, which were then decorated with metal and rubbed with powders of multiple magical powers. The Kota have produced large quantity of statues of ancestors with the diamond-shaped lower part called mbulu-ngulu; these rather two-dimensional sculptures are in wood; symbolic metals were applied to the upper part in strips or sheets to add power. Copper in particular was identified with longevity and power. These statues stood guard in cylindrical bark boxes, on baskets or bundles called bwete that contained the skulls and bones of important ancestors. Bound into a packet and lashed to the base of a carved figure, the bones formed a stable base that allowed the image to stand more or less upright. Thanks to the diversity of the groups, scattered over a vast area, a great variety of different styles of figures has developed, some of them endogenous and some influenced by neighboring styles. Kota figures represent an extremely stylized human body, reduced to shoulders and "arms,” in emptied lozenge shape, surmounted by a large face framed by an ample coiffure with hanging tresses. The face, always oval, may be concave (female), convex (male) or concave-convex, with a forehead in quarter-sphere (also male). The reliquaries were kept outside the homes, in huts at the edge of the village. Only the initiates of the lineage had access to this sacred place. At the time of initiation in the reliquary cult, the clans would meet to perform communal rituals; each clan’s chief would dance holding the reliquary. Some reliquaries featured a large figure representing the lineage founder along with some smaller figures representing his successors.   There are figures with two identical or different faces made on two opposite sides of the flat head.

The bwete was called on in time of crisis to combat unseen agents of harm. Its intercession was sought in such vital matters as fertility, success in hunting, and in commercial ventures. A husband could use it to guard against his wife’s infidelity, for it was believed that if he placed pieces of her clothing in the reliquary, an unfaithful wife would be driven mad. Families took their bwete to ceremonies of neighboring villages to strengthen the allied community. The display of the bundles and their shiny, visually riveting figures was accompanied by feasting, dancing, and the making of protective medicines.  These bwete were kept for generations, but during the 20th century, when religious beliefs changed, they were abandoned or even destroyed.