Figure (Nkishi)
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CC0
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608 × 900 px · WebP
Suggested credit
Figure (Nkishi) (late 1800s–early 1900s). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin N. Haas Rights: CC0. https://clevelandart.org/art/1974.212

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From the museum record

The substances contained in its cloth-covered cranial cavity indicate that this half-figure belongs to the broad category of charms or “power objects” that the Luba call mankishi . It was used by a ritual expert and functioned in a variety of rituals dealing with healing, protection, divination, or jurisdiction. Often such power figures were carved by the ritual experts rather than by professional artists.

Lupin’s visual index

A weathered terracotta figurine depicts a stylized human figure with a beaded necklace and elaborate headdress.

Machine-assisted description · useful for discovery, not scholarship.
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