Nail-studded figure, Democratic Republic of Congo, 1880-1920
- Made:
- 1880-1920 in Democratic Republic of Congo
- maker:
- Bakongo people
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LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseNail-studded container for nkisi force
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Nail-studded container for nkisi force
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Nail-studded container for nkisi force, carved wooden figure with mirrored container, Bakongo people, west-central Africa, 1880-1920
A carved wooden figure with the body covered in nails, used as a container for the nkisi force. In BaKongo belief, an ancestor or spirit is named as the nkisi force and harnessed in a container for use in healing. Nails hammered into this figure make the nkisi force active.
Details
- Category:
- Ethnography and Folk Medicine
- Collection:
- Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
- Object Number:
- A197491
- type:
- statue
- credit:
- Wellcome Trust (Purchased from Stevens)
