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VERY FINE and OLD 'Nkisi' from BAKONGO
33cm; 13 in
NO RESERVE !!!.
Type of Object: Carving
Ethnic Group: Bakongo, Kongo
Country of Origin: Dem. Rep. of Congo
Materials: Wood, pigment, paint, feathers, cloth, nails, mirror, glass, rope, grass, leather
Approximate Age: Early 20th Century
Dimensions: Height is 33cm; 13 in
Overall Condition: Excellent
Provenance : Former old German collection
Spreading over both sides of the Congo-Zaïre border,
the Bakongos constitute a powerful nation with a proud history. The statuettes,
whose bestowed magical powers are often enclosed in two reliquaries, are known
as "nkisis". This particular nkisi is intended by the nganga (medecine
man) for private use
Magic
is practiced throughout Black Africa, but there are distinctions to be
made among those who participate in it. The witch doctor is seen as
someone
who undertakes on his own account a personal communication with evil
powers -suspected of casting spells, he is feared and rejected as the
most dangerous individual in the tribe. The accusation of sorcery is a serious one.
The
diviner, or fetishist, operates in principle for the good of all. His
help is sought in times of need, for he is seen as the mediator between
members of
the tribe and all the powers of darkness. For this reason he also acts as healer.
The
various attempts to influence the fearsome powers of the supernatural
through the mediation of statues or fetishes have acquired particular
intensity
in the regions round the mouth of the River Congo, home of the Kongo,
Yombe and Vili tribes, and this is also the case in the east of Zaire,
among the Songye.
Magical
objects were for many years little known in Europe, as Christian
missionaries working in Africa tracked them down and had them burnt.
Certain
statues which were brought back to Europe by
religious men, allegedly for documentation, were kept in secret and
could not be studied. They were
much feared for they
seemed, even to European eyes, to have real power, a belief almost
universally accepted in 17th-century Europe. Olfert Dapper
was the first to look dispassionately at these "fetish" objects and to dare to describe them.
Recent
work has led to a better understanding. They are wooden carvings,
either anthropomorphic or zoomorphic, which are covered with a variety
of
objects such as nails or metal blades. The cavities in
their back or stomach contain "medicines" - grains, hairs, teeth or
fingernails - which are held
together with various binding
materials. Pieces of fabric, feathers or lumps of clay are sometimes
present. Finally, bits of mirror, shiny metal or shells
are
used to close the cavities or to mark the eyes (fig. 131). Very often
the faces alone are carved in detail, while the rest of the body -
destined to be
hidden under these various additional
features - is sculpted more summarily (fig 140). The figure's genitals
may even be missing, either because they
have never been carved or because they have been removed by a zealous missionary.
These
figures have only a remote ancestral connection and they are
distinguished from reliquaries by the absence of skulls or large bones,
although
some may sometimes fit into either category.
Generally
grouped as Nkisi, they were the result of the combined work of two men,
the carver and the fetishist. The former created the shape, but
without
the latter (the Nganga) the figure had no meaning. It was the Nganga
who filled it with magic substances and completed the rituals which
gave it
supernatural powers.
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