superb large studded fetish - Bakongo - DRC Congo (No reserve price)

Fetishe Nkisi Nkonde - Kongo / Yombe - RDC Zaire - Nkisi Nkonde
The Minkisi (plural of Nkisi) are truly the embodiment of a spiritual entity that subjects itself to human control through rites. They are used to resolve all kinds of problems (illness, infertility, conflicts...)

The Minkisi were also the custodians of the clan's collective memory and could also serve, on occasion, to avenge the innocent by inflicting a sudden illness on the perjurer or by killing him.

They are generally anthropomorphic statues 15 to 30 cm tall, possessing a ventral cavity in which the magical charge is placed: the bilongo.

This charge consists of various plant and animal substances placed in the cavity closed by a resin plug adorned with shells or a mirror.
The mirror allowed the diviner to detect the approach of sorcerers coming from each of the four directions.

The act of closing this receptacle is not trivial, because it indicates that the invoked powers can be mastered.

It is the diviner, the Nganga, who during a ceremony places the charge and thus activates the powers of the statue with the help of multiple touches.

Thereafter, since he is the intercessor between the person who comes to consult him and the Nkisi, the Nganga licks a nail or a piece of metal and drives it into the body of the statue.
This ritual is sometimes reproduced in sculpture, some Nkisi having their tongue hanging out.
According to sources, note that sometimes it was the client himself who licked the nail before driving it into the statue (Treasures of Africa - Tervuren, page 288).

By licking the nail, the diviner and/or the client thus "awaken" the spirit of the Nkisi which can henceforth be invoked.

Then everything hinged on the gaze. There was the gaze of the Nkisi, which, through its eyes of metal or shiny mirror, seemed to fix the one who takes the oath.

And conversely, the gaze of the client who could not look away from the piece of mirror present on the statue's belly where the magical substances were hidden.