Fragmentary Head of an ‘Nkisi’

Songye, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Late 19th - Early 20th century

Wood, Metal

16cm Tall

Provenance:

Marc Leo Felix, Brussels (#FX990085)

Dianne Komminsk, Ohio

Power figures are central components to the belief systems of many ethnic groups in the Congo, and some of the most recognizable of these originate from the Songye territory around the Lomami river. The patina and light weight suggests that this fragment almost certainly spent a substantial time and was recovered from some body of water.

My theory is that it was one of the innumerable sculptures cast into village wells during colonial religious conversion.

Jacques Kerchache famously recovered a group of Mahongwe figures from a well in Gabon in 1960s.