Power figure "nkisi" ·  D. R. Congo, Bakongo · ID: 3033631

Description

wood, honey brown patina, carved with a short jacket with banded collar, trousers in ankle-length and fez-like headgear, carved in a strict nearly military-like posture with arms akimbo, the eyes spread with blackish mass, the inlay with porcelain and mirror glass missing, delicate carving with well-balanced facial features and beautiful details, like the feet with fine ankles, slightly dam., cracks (back of the head), partly spread with wax-like mass (breast), traces of insect caused damage, rep. (base);
probably a commemorative effigy of a chiefly male ancestor. The “medicine” must have been contained in special packages attached to the body but now they are lost and the figure has become an “objet d’art”. The “nkisi” were not especially adorned. Of real importance was their magic effectiveness and their ability for fortune-telling. They were used for warding off witchcraft, diseases and thieves. Bad spirits or humans being ill-disposed towards others should be banished by the reflexion of the mirror glass in order to be destroyed by the magic material affixed to the figure. “Nkisis” were veiled, when not in use.

Comparing literature

Baeke, Viviane (ed.), Treasures from the Africa-Museum Tervuren, Tervuren 1995, cat. 4