Protective Figure (nkisi or nkisi nduda)

Images(6)

Protective Figure (nkisi or nkisi nduda)

Artist Kongo artist

Datelate 19th century

MediumWood, metal, mirror, raffia, feathers, and organic material

Dimensions14 3/4 x 7 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (37.5 x 19.1 x 16.5 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Hanes

Object number91.7

On View

Not on view

Label TextThis historic nkisi (pl. minkisi) serves many purposes, including to protect, heal, and seal agreements. The sculpture becomes active when a spiritual specialist or practitioner (nganga) adds special material (bilongo)--such as medicinal herbs, blood, or soil from a sacred place--to the exterior and interior cavities of the figure and calls spirits to inhabit it. The cylindrical container on the belly is sealed with a mirror, which recalls the reflective surface of a river in which spirits dwell, and so refers to spiritual powers within the figure. Nails and spikes driven into it served to activate its power and also solemnized oaths sworn before it by the practitioner’s clients.

Robert Visser, a German trader and amateur ethnographer, collected over one thousand objects during twenty-two years in what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including this figure. His records indicate this nkisi was of a particular type (called nduda) used for protection against malicious spirits.
ProvenanceCreated in Mayombe region, Democractic Republic of the Congo, late 19th century (before 1903); Purchased by Robert Visser, a German trader, from an unnamed Belgian officer; Donated to Linden Museum Collection, Stuttgart, Germany (032388), 1903; Deaccessioned from Linden Museum, 1969; Posted by Exchange to L. Bretschneider (ethnographic dealer), Munich, 1969; Matthias Komor, dealer, March 27, 1980; Purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Hanes; Donated to the North Carolina Museum of Art, 1991.
Published ReferencesJürgen Zwernemann, “Spiegel-und Nagelplastiken vom unteren Kongo im Linden Museum,” Tribus Veröffentlichunger des Linden-Museums, no. 10 (September 1961), 27, no. 32 388.

Steven Litt, "Art museum buys two works; donors give five more," The News and Observer, Raleigh, NC (Thursday, January 10, 1991), 4B.

North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1991-92), illus. (b-w) 39.

Gazette des Beaux-Arts no. 1478 (March 1992), 112.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 51.

Rebecca Martin Nagy, entry for Oath-Taking and Healing Image (Nkisi N'Kondi), in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 60, illus. (color).

Rebecca Martin Nagy, entry for Oath-Taking and Healing Figure (Nkisi N'kondi), in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 126, illus. (color) 127.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Art for the People: Recent Museum Acquisitions,” September 14, 1997-January 4, 1998. (Closing date extended to January 25, 1998)

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Reflections on Light: Works from the NCMA Collection,” September 9, 2020–August 15, 2021.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–July 11, 2023. Object Rights Statement

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