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Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka)

Kongo peoples; Yombe group

19th century, inventoried 1900

Not on view

Arnold Ridyard, engineer of the Elder Dempster and Company liner the SS Niger, obtained this Mangaaka figure through his Hatton & Cookson agent Oscar Sonnenberg. In a letter Sonnenberg describes the role Mangaaka played as a deterrent for crime:
When a Native has been robbed, he assists the priest of this fetish and begs him to allow him to drive a nail into the image against the known or unknown thief. He has to pay a small sum to the priest for this. During the art of driving the nail into the images, he not only asks the Mangaka to punish the thief but all his family as well. . . . The priest has great powers over the Natives and generally frightens the criminal to denounce himself. . . . Robbery amongst themselves therefore is a rare thing. . . . The Portuguese government has removed by force some of these fetishes.

Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka), Wood, iron, resin, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment, Kongo peoples; Yombe group — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka), Wood, iron, resin, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment, Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka), Wood, iron, resin, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment, Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka), Wood, iron, resin, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment, Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka), Wood, iron, resin, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment, Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka), Wood, iron, resin, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment, Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka), Wood, iron, resin, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment, Kongo peoples; Yombe group

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This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka)

Date: 19th century, inventoried 1900

Geography: Cabinda, Angola, Chiloango River region

Culture: Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Medium: Wood, iron, resin, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, pigment

Dimensions: H. 44 1/8 in. (112 cm), W. 18 1/8 in. (46 cm), D. 9 in. (23 cm)

Classification: Wood-Sculpture

Credit Line: National Museums Liverpool, World Museum

The Met

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met

The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.