682 - Kongo power figure Nkisi with colour-painted face and wrapped body, Africa, 20th century

Kongo power figure Nkisi with colour-painted face and wrapped body, Africa, 20th century Wood, fabric, metal and raffia, standing power figure Nkisi, also fetish figure, head with pointed cap and colour-painted face, the torso hung with small fabric bags, wrapped with braided raffia band and encrusted with sand, a mirrored magic box in the navel area, on a round base, condition commensurate with age, drying crack at the base, old termite damage to the head, H. 52 cm. 360-degree photo available on our website. Power figures of this kind, nkisi in the singular, minkisi in the plural, come from the Kongo peoples in the region of today's Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. They were created through the cooperation of a sculptor, who carved the wooden body, and a ritual specialist, the nganga, who made the figure effective only by inserting bilongo, a mixture of plant, mineral and animal substances. The box at the belly, sealed with mirror glass, serves as a container for these substances. The figures were intended to heal illnesses, settle disputes, protect the community and punish wrongdoers; in the art trade they are also called fetish figures, or nail fetishes when they are studded with nails and blades.