Fetish "nkisi" Songye. Democratic Republic of Congo. Wood. On a base.
28.5 cm high (without base).
In Africa, the belief that relates diseases to acts of witchcraft is deeply rooted. Finding a remedy that counteracts them is essential to mitigate or avoid their damage. The traditional doctor makes use of the knowledge in medicine to endow the "nkisi" with the necessary power by introducing "the magic charge" inside a horn inserted in the head and also in the cavity of the abdomen, sometimes so small that it seems only insinuated or represents a flattening or relief located in the most bulky part of the belly. This paradigmatic example of a protective fetish amplifies its effect by propagating these small depressions throughout the figure''s body.
According to data collected in the 1930s by missionaries in a small dispensary near Luluaborg, this type of "nkisi" was used to protect against smallpox, a great epidemic in those times, now overcome.
This catalog is accompanied by the image of a sculpture by Georg Baselitz, an artist who is characterized by transmitting a certain aggressiveness achieved by calculating, rough carving, reducing the body to elemental and archetypal forms.
DECORATIVE ARTS
Starting price
1.400 €
NOT SOLD
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