Whistle "nsiba" or charm with janus figure · D. R. Congo, Manyanga · ID: 3047245
not available anymore
Provenance
Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, BelgiumSize
H: 12,5 cm/ 21 cm (with horn)
H: 4.9 inch/ 8.3 inch (with horn)
Description
wood, antelope horn,
Antelope-horn whistles with carved wooden finials, were probably used in medicinal and hunting contexts.
Söderberg notes in 1966, that antelope-horn whistles from the lower Zaire region were often associated with traditional healers who wore them as symbols of their strength and medicinal powers.
He states, that the sculptures adorning these whistles, are credited with spiritual power allowing the “nganga” to extract bullets by sucking from a wound inflicted during war or in the course of hunting".
Comparing literature
Brincard, Marie-Therese, Sounding forms, New York 1989, p. 165, ill.128 ff.