Nkisi (Power Figure)
Artist: Songye people
Date: mid 19th-early 20th century
Dimensions:
41 in. (104.1 cm)
Medium: wood, copper, glass beads, raffia fiber, and antelope horn
Place of Origin: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1970.51
Label Text:An awe-inspiring presence, this large power figure (nkishi) once guarded a Songye community, protecting its health and fertility, punishing wrongdoers, and keeping witches and evil spirits away. Sculpted by a carver to represent a heroic ancestor, the figure became the repository for a powerful spirit when a ritual specialist inserted magical substances into cavities in the head and the abdomen and added the horn on top of the head to refer to the wisdom of the elders. Power figures were placed on an altar in a special house and were considered so dangerous that they were never handled with bare hands, only with sticks.
Not on view
In Collection(s)