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.This Mangaaka figure, obtained by Visser in the Loango region before 1904, is one of three that he procured for the Leipzig Museum. Another example may have been destroyed during World War II and a third was deaccessioned and later acquired by the Detroit Institute of Arts. This example remains engulfed in the extensive empowering additions contributed by a ritual specialist. These take the form of a beard that extends around the perimeter of the jaw composed of plant matter and the ritual garment around the lower body, or makolo, composed of bundles of woven and tied fibers.
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, iron, resin, cowrie shell, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment
- Dimensions: H. 43 1/4 in. (110 cm), W. 17 3/8 in. (44 cm), D. 16 1/2 in. (42 cm)
- Classification: Wood-Sculpture
- Credit Line: GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing