Power figure (nkisi)
1880–1920
- Medium
- Wood, organic materials (including resin), iron, reed, tooth, seashell or glass beads, and possibly plastic
- Dimensions
- Overall: 12 x 4 x 4 cm (4 3/4 x 1 9/16 x 1 9/16 in.)
- Genre
- Sculpture
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
Central Africa, Republic of the Congo, Kongo people
About
One of seven anthropomorphic figurines, these minkisi contained medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. Minkisi were objects of communal use; if conflict arose between two citizens, the Nkisi figure, along with the nganga (ritual leader) helped resolve the dispute. This small figure belonged to “the sorcerer of Loango,” chief of all sorcerers of that region (a province and port in West Central Africa).