Cleveland Museum of Art

Power figure (nkisi)

Date

late 1800s-early 1900s

Medium

Wood, organic materials (including resin), cloth, glass, and various other materials

Culture

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

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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. Different from other Minkisi who hold their power in their abdomen, this figure sits atop a sphere in which the active substances still reside.

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