Power figure (nkisi)

Description

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.”

Provenance

(Unidentified art dealer, Nice, FR, 1961, sold to René and Odette Delenne) (?-1961); René [1901-1998] and Odette Delenne [1925-2012], Brussels, BE, 2010, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art (1961-2010); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 2010 (2010)

Power figure (nkisi)

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late 1800s-early 1900s

Accession Number

2010.439

Medium

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

Dimensions

Overall: 34 x 9.5 x 25 cm (13 3/8 x 3 3/4 x 9 13/16 in.)

Classification

Sculpture

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

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