Small power half figure "nkisi"
D. R. Congo, Songye
not available anymore
Provenance
Ernest Godefroid, Baronville, Belgium, collected in situ (1950s)Godefroid worked in the Congo for more than thirty years. He was the Director of Petrofina in Kinshasa.
Size
H: 26 cm
H: 10.2 inch
Description
wood, greyish brown patina, black paint, prominent facial features with flat diamond-shaped nose, deeply hollowed eye sockets and protruding mouth part, cavities in head and stomach (the latter with magical loading preserved), the head above the forehead stud with three aglets and two bells, unusual: the head is pierced at height of the ears for attachment of a leather loop with long metal hook, slightly dam., minor missing parts, crack, traces of insect caused damage, base.
Once the figure was no longer deemed efficacious, its magical loading was removed and destroyed by a ritualis, leaving only the carved figure, which now had no value to the Songe at all, as it had no longer had any functional purpose.