Power figure (nkisi) (late 1800s–early 1900s): Art, History and Details

Power figure (nkisi) (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 figure is one of the two tallest of the seven anthropomorphic minkisi figurines previously in the Delenne collection. Identified as an nduda, two upward “guns” are attached on its side loaded with gunpowder used to shoot witches. Its label bears the word colique, a term referring to heavy pains caused by intestinal obstruction.

Object facts

• Title: Power figure (nkisi)
• Date: late 1800s–early 1900s
• Culture: Africa, Central Africa, Republic of the Congo, Kongo-style maker
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Wood, organic materials (including resin), cloth, metalized glass, possibly porcelain, and plant fiber
• Dimensions: Overall: 23 x 9 x 11 cm (9 1/16 x 3 9/16 x 4 5/16 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2010.441

A detail from the museum

The object’s two small guns are pointing upward, but bears the label “colique,” a term referring to heavy pains caused by intestinal obstruction.

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, 54-58.

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.