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Power figure (nkisi)
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit linePower figure (nkisi), late 1800s–early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Republic of the Congo, Kongo-style maker. Wood, organic materials (including resin), cloth, metalized glass, possibly porcelain, and plant fiber; overall: 23 x 9 x 11 cm (9 1/16 x 3 9/16 x 4 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2010.441
