Standing male power figure "nkisi"

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Description

wood, lusterless brown patina, small traces of black paint and camwood powder, characteristic posture, small opening in the abdomen originally filled with magical mass, heart-shaped facial plane with tapering chin and laughing mouth, old collection number handwritten on the backside “AF 101” (in two places), dam. (hands, feet), missing parts through insect caused damage (base, back, surface of the face), cracks, the horn reinserted, on metal plate;
presumably coming from the area of Belande/Ilande.
Rising above the statue, the horn is one of the most important elements of the whole. It symbolizes power, fertility and fecundity. The exterior of the horn is regarded as the male element, the fecund principle. The interior as female, that which is fertilized, that which is furnished with magical powers. A statue without magical substances (“bijimba”) and ornaments, which are the real source of its power, is, to the Songe, robbed of its value.

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Littérature comparée

Neyt, Francois, Songye, Brussels 2004, p. 52 ff. Hersak, Dunja, Songye, Masks and Figure Sculpture, London 1986, p. 164

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