Janus Fetish Figure - Songye - DR Congo

Rare Janus Songye figurine (kalebwe)
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Total height (composite horn): 58 cm
Max width: 14 cm
Materials: wood, brass nails, horn, trade beads, antelope skin
Period: 2nd half of the 20th century
Provenance: Richard Dams - Belgium

The Songye knew two types of power statues (minkishi). While the larger statues protected the welfare of all members of a village, the smaller ones were for private use by an individual and were commissioned by a nganga (diviner) for the specific needs of that person. The Songye addressed prayers to ancestral spirits through personal minkishi for multiple reasons. While some sought to protect their family and themselves, others served to promote fertility, hunting, or agriculture. Minkishi were also used to protect and heal certain illnesses. As soon as the nganga treated a patient with herbal medicines, he could also prescribe the treatment of a nkishi as a form of protective reinforcement. The creator of the statue did not necessarily have to be the diviner himself. Among the Songye, the wooden statue was considered a “hollow container” before the nganga transformed it into a powerfully endowed ritual object. The hollows carved in the middle of the torso and on the head contained magical substances (bishimba) to strengthen the object.

The surface of the two faces of this female figure is entirely covered with metal nails. Anthropologist Alan P. Merriam (1923-1980) noted that copper nails, called elengyela (plural malengyela), covering the figurine could be witnesses of different sessions of use of the statue by a diviner; they also embellish the figure. (An African World: The Basongye Village of Lupupa Ngye, Bloomington, 1974). Indeed, among the Kongo peoples, nails and metal pieces were inserted into statues in order to activate the forces within them.

Sold with certificate of authenticity signed by Richard Dams.

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