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.The semicircular or oval eyes of Mangaaka figures were cut from a ceramic tile with lead-tin glaze of nineteenth-century European origin. They were drilled to provide a hole for an iron nail pupil and attached to the eye socket at the perimeter with black resin as a sealant. Examination during restoration revealed that one of the eye cavities of this example is empty of its original contents, though the resin sealant was carefully applied to the interior surface of the container and to the reverse of the ceramic inlay. This suggests that the ocular cavities of all the figures originally concealed matter that was initially carefully sealed within but later deliberately removed by an individual knowledgeable about their contents.
Artwork Details
- Title: Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka)
- Date: 19th century
- Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chiloango River region; Republic of the Congo; Cabinda, Angola
- Culture: Kongo peoples; Yombe group
- Medium: Wood, iron, resin, mirrored glass, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment
- Dimensions: H. 45 1/4 in. (115 cm), W. 17 3/8 in. (44 cm), D. 11 in. (28 cm)
- Classification: Wood-Sculpture
- Credit Line: Horstmann Collection, Zug, Switzerland
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing