Power Figure with Divided Face (Nkisi Nkondi)

The most striking feature of this figure is its divided face. One half is coated with white kaolin (mpemba); the other keeps the dark tone of the wood. White is the colour of the dead and of the ancestral world beneath the water, and dark is the world of the living, so the divided face places the nkisi on the threshold between the two realms, from which it acts on behalf of the living. A line of metal studs runs down the centre of the brow and marks that boundary.

The inset glass eyes give the figure second sight, and the carved knob at the crown recalls the peaked headgear of chiefs and banganga. The mouth, with its carved teeth, gives voice to the spirit. Braided cords, textile strips and wrappings around the neck and body enact kanga, binding the spirit to its task and sealing the medicines packed into the body. The nails driven through the bindings, some bent into loops, each record an invocation.

The figure is dominated by a large, smooth, domed head of strong sculptural volume, whose clean planes contrast with the dense, tangled wrappings of the body. The divided face, split along the line of studs, gives the head a graphic, almost abstract power, and the blue glass eyes add a luminous accent. The heavy arched brow, prominent ears and carved teeth are cut with confidence. The large, carefully carved feet anchor the figure to its block base.

Note. Attributed to the Kongo rather than the Songye: the line of studs on the brow recalls Songye brass-tack decoration, but the rounded, naturalistic face, the inset glass eyes and the bound, nailed torso belong to the Kongo nkondi idiom.