Power figure (nkisi)

Unknown Artist

late 1800s-early 1900s

Power figure (nkisi) by Unknown Artist

Medium

Wood, metalized glass, organic materials (including resin), feathers, plant fibers, iron, and copper alloy

Dimensions

{"overall":{"height":0.34,"width":0.095,"depth":0.25}}

Classification

Sculpture

Department

African Art

Museum

Cleveland Museum of Art

Credit

René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Accession Number

2010.439

About this artwork

One of seven minkisi figures previously in the René and Odette Delenne collection, this object contained medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. This figure is one of the two tallest in the collection. Feathers of a bird of prey adorn its head, with two small guns pointing upward and a third hanging down. It had belonged to “the sorcerer of Louboulou.”

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