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

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

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

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

This bilongo is composed of various vegetal and animal substances placed in the cavity sealed by a resinous stopper adorned with shells or a mirror.
The mirror allowed the seer to detect the approach of sorcerers coming from each of the four directions.

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

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

Subsequently, since he is the intermediary between the person who comes to consult him and the Nkisi, the Nganga licks a nail or a metal element and drives it into the body of the statue.
This ritual is sometimes reproduced in sculpture, some Nkisi having a hanging tongue.
According to sources, it should be noted 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 seer and/or the client thus ‘awakens’ the spirit of the Nkisi, which can then be invoked.

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

And conversely, the gaze of the client, who could not tear himself away from the piece of mirror present on the statue’s belly where the magical substances were hidden."}