id: 168738 accession number: 2010.443 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.443 updated: 2023-04-22 12:24:40.835000 Power figure (nkisi), late 1800s-early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Republic of the Congo, Kongo-style maker. Wood, organic materials (including resin), cloth, glass, and various other materials; overall: 11.5 x 4.5 x 4 cm (4 1/2 x 1 3/4 x 1 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2010.443 title: Power figure (nkisi) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: late 1800s-early 1900s creation date earliest: 1880 creation date latest: 1920 current location: creditline: René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund copyright: --- culture: Africa, Central Africa, Republic of the Congo, Kongo-style maker technique: Wood, organic materials (including resin), cloth, glass, and various other materials department: African Art collection: African Art type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 11.5 x 4.5 x 4 cm (4 1/2 x 1 3/4 x 1 9/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Fragments of the Invisible: The Rene and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture opening date: 2013-10-27T00:00:00 Fragments of the Invisible: The Rene and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27, 2013-February 9, 2014). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Unidentified art dealer, Nice, FR, 1961, sold to René and Odette Delenne) date: ?-1961 footnotes: citations: René [1901-1998] and Odette Delenne [1925-2012], Brussels, BE, 2010, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1961-2010 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 2010 date: 2010 footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Different from other Minkisi who hold their power in their abdomen, this figure sits atop a sphere in which the active substances still reside. digital description: One of seven anthropomorphic figurines, these minkisi contained medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. The medicines served a metaphorical rather than literal purpose in the resolution of conflicts among Kongo people. This asymmetrical figure wears a mpu headdress of chiefs with its characteristic geometric decoration. The pose may refer to a state of mourning. wall description: The Delenne’s stumbled upon this group of seven anthropomorphic figurines (2010.437–43) in an antiques shop in Nice during a holiday in the south of France in 1961. The carvings carry paperboard labels with inscriptions in French that indicate their ethnic and geographic provenance as well as some other details. Stemming from the Kongo region in West Central Africa, these seven sculptures feature a variety of gestures and poses, the use of mirror or glass for the eyes, and a red-white-black color scheme. They belong to the broad category of minkisi (singular nkisi), containers for medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. Two of the group are minkisi of the nduda type, characterized by the attached "guns" loaded with gunpowder and used to shoot witches. This figurine wears the mpu headdress of chiefs as he sits in a mental state of mourning, perhaps a reference to what the nkisi may induce in the person against whom its action is directed. It belonged to “the sorcerer of Tiétié on the Djoué River.” --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS 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. page number: Mentioned: pp. 54, 56, 113; reproduced: 58-59, cat. 17 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.443/2010.443_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.443/2010.443_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.443/2010.443_full.tif