Cleveland Museum of Art

Power figure (nkisi)

Date

late 1800s–early 1900s

Medium

Wood, organic materials (including resin), cloth, metalized glass, possibly porcelain, and plant fiber

Culture

Africa, Central Africa, Republic of the Congo, Kongo-style maker

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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

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