Male figure (nkisi nkondi) (late 1800s-early 1900s): Art, History and Details

Male figure (nkisi nkondi) (late 1800s-early 1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This nkisi nkondi (power figure) lacks most of the materials that transformed it into a vessel for a spirit. Carved by sculptors, minkisi hosted spirits after banganga (priests) placed substances inside to empower them. The mirrored eyes, resin cap, and stomach chamber once contained empowering materials. After the nkisi had served its purpose the nganga removed the materials, stripping it of its spiritual power; the remaining sculpture was discarded. Sometimes, Kongo people removed materials as acts of anti-colonial resistance, disempowering minkisi before Europeans seized them. While we don’t know why it was disempowered, this sculpture is no longer spiritually active.

Object facts

• Title: Male figure (nkisi nkondi)
• Date: late 1800s-early 1900s
• Culture: Democratic Republic of Congo or Cabinda (Angola), Kongo artist and nganga (priest)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Wood, metalized glass, iron, organic material, ivory or plastic, and natural fiber
• Dimensions: Overall: 46 x 25.7 x 19.2 cm (18 1/8 x 10 1/8 x 7 9/16 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2010.432

A detail from the museum

A mix of locally made and imported metal nails, blades, and screws cover this figure.

Collection credit

René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Petridis, Constantine, et al. Fragments of the Invisible: The René and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art. Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2013, 23, 51, 96.
• Smith, Fred T., Judith Perani, Joseph L. Underwood, and Martha J. Ehrlich. The Visual Arts of Africa : Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals. Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.