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Power Figure (Nkisi N'Kondi: Mangaaka)

Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Not on view

The Hatton & Cookson trading company agent Arthur Clare acquired this Mangaaka with its adjunct Kozo along the Chiloango before 1898. In a letter dated 1904, he specifies that the works were awarded to him by
the Portuguese government for acting as intermediary in a palaver between them and the natives. It may be of interest to know that owing to the great abuses of the fetish priests the Portuguese Government determined some six years ago to destroy [all] the festishes; but notwithstanding the destruction fetishism is just as it was then.
Charged with their delivery to the Salford Corporation Museum and Art Galleries, Ridyard reported the alarm that Mangaaka’s presence instilled in local youth who declined to carry or even approach the figure.

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

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