Ritual basket ·  D. R. Congo, Bakongo · ID: 3037876

Description

brown patina, red and black paint, kaolin, plant fibre, bark box with wooden bottom, on the outside partly covered with wooden strips connected with plant fibre, filled with various bones and palm fibre, sacrificial traces, remains of paint, slightly dam.;
the range of possible forms of a “nkisi” was indefinite. Besides the impressive anthropomorphic and zoomorphic forms, many “minkisi” took the shape of a bag, a basket, a bottle, a box or any other type of container that could hold the “medicines”. The boxes normally contain an assemblage of items, including carved miniatures as well as organic matters (such as bones, seeds, bird skulls, claws, feathers, animal teeth and so on). They are combined by the “nganga” according to the needs of an individual person or a community. They were used for divination as well: when the box is shaken, the arrangement of its contents is interpreted as a visual code used by the spirit world to reveal and communicate insight into human experiences.

Comparing literature

Cooksey, Susan et. al., Kongo across the waters, Gainesville 2013, p. 202 LaGamma, Alisa, Art and Oracle, New York 2000, p. 46