Power figure (nkisi)
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814 × 893 px · WebP
Suggested credit
Power figure (nkisi) (late 1800s-early 1900s). René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund Rights: CC0. https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.437

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From the museum record

One of seven anthropomorphic figurines, these minkisi contained medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. The medicines served a metaphorical rather than literal purpose in the resolution of conflicts among Kongo people. This figure contained white- and red-colored medicine loads on its belly and back. Its pose may refer to the nkisi ’s capacity to see more than others.

Lupin’s visual index

A weathered bronze bust depicting a male figure in the style of ancient Egyptian portraiture.

Machine-assisted description · useful for discovery, not scholarship.
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Power figure (nkisi)

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