Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka)
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Photographic records suggest that the power pack of this “Mangake Chibaste, the largest Idol of the Majumbe race,” as Visser called it, was altered before it left Africa. It has essentially been stripped of most of the additions made by the ritual specialist, such as the beard and lower garment, which reveals the excellence of the sculpture. The face is especially handsome, with high modeled cheekbones and a finely pointed chin, and the lower body is striking for the unusual degree to which it is defined. There are curves that articulate the buttocks and calves, and the powerful but slender legs distribute the body’s weight in a slight contrapposto.
Artwork Details
- Title: Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka)
- Date: 19th century, inventoried 1909
- Geography: Cabinda, Angola, Chiloango River region
- Culture: Kongo peoples; Yombe group
- Medium: Wood (Canarium schweinfurthii Engl.), iron, resin, cowrie shell, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment
- Dimensions: H. 46 in. (116.8 cm), W. 18 1/2 in. (47 cm), D. 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)
- Classification: Wood-Sculpture
- Credit Line: Detroit Institute of Arts; Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing