Songye Craftsmenstatue Songye, Kneeling Male Figure, Democratic Republic Of Congo

A Songye Male Power Figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the male figure resting on one knee, with openwork arms and hands resting by the abdomen which contains various charms and hand forged items, carrying on his back a bound 'hote'. Typical facial features. Fine medium and dark brown patina with encrustation.

Provenance: the figure has been in the collection of a Danish Cineaste since the 1960s.

Similar figures are held in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren.

Acting as a mediator between spirits and men, Songye mankishi statues were made to heal, protect, bring luck and fertility. While small ones, such as ours, were reserved for personal use, large statues were intended to protect the entire community, often for generations. The communal nkishi was placed under the protection of a guard, who was supposed to translate the messages of the nkishi under the influence of mediumistic possession. It is possible to see the talents of the sculptor and soothsayer (nganga) that are expressed in the creation of the statue. The latter makes the magical components (bishimba) placed here, in the stomach area and at the top of the head. The effectiveness of these medicines will determine the value and power of nkishi. Covering the statue with palm oil ointment and filling the head with a wide variety of materials charged the statue and gave it all its magical power. The skin of our sculpture is now drowned under layers of oil, witness of prolonged use over several generations. The perfection of the geometric composition and the sensitivity of the models are translated here by the hand of a very great sculptor.

Reserved for the personal use of an individual or a family, this Nkisi statuette was intended to heal, protect, bring luck and / or fertility. The strength of the sculpture characterizing the style of the workshops of Bena-Sapo (Luebo region) is accentuated by the magico-religious additions recalling its role as mediator between men and spirits.

THE CHARMS OF GOOD FORTUNE
by Bernard Dulon

Among the many bwanga or fetishes once used by the nganga (clairvoyants, traditional spiritual healers) of the Songye people, there is a specific type that earned a place of choice for itself among the icons of Central African art: mankishi (singular: nkishi). They are anthropomorphic statues to which bishimba, or magically significant ingredients, were ritually attached: generally inserted into the navel or top of the head.

Mankishi can be divided into two categories: personal mankishi and community mankishi. The examples from the second category, including the one from the Périnet collection, are characteristically large. They were not statues of ancestors, strictly speaking, but rather intermediaries between living people and the most venerable among the deceased: honourable chiefs and prestigious notables. They also played an important role in the group’s fertility and the reincarnation of beneficial spirits, protection and healing, resistance to evil witchcraft, and success in combat.

Community mankishi were crafted by a sculptor and made sacred by a nganga through a very special ritual observed in different locations throughout Songye country. When the statue was fully sculpted, it would be placed near a fire by night, the Nganga was the only entity authorised to remain in the village during this operation, in order to invite the spirits to come warm themselves and to foster the divination practices for the consecration of the bishimba and the transformation of the sculpture into a nkishi. The nganga believed to have the powers necessary for this activation were uncommon, and their services were very expensive. Certain mankishi, closely related to their nganga, could go into decline following the death of the healer. They would become useless and be abandoned.

The community nkishi was kept in a sanctuary guarded by a nkunja, who could be an old man or an old woman. Through trances or dream visions, the nkunja received messages from the forces expressing themselves through the nkishi and passed them along to the village.

During new moon ceremonies, the great nkishi was taken out, and could be placed on a chief ’s throne. It was given libations of palm oil and blood, as well as rooster meat, as offerings for the ancestors to recharge its forces. During this ceremony, those who possessed personal mankishi could bring them so that they too could benefit from the replenishment.

A number of historical sources indicate that the Songye were particularly renowned for their knowledge in the art of mankishi, and that certain great examples were used by foreign populations outside of the Songye territory.

The opulent nkishi of the Périnet collection stylistically belongs to the Songye-Kalebwe region. The features of its harmonious face evoke those of the most extraordinary masks of the bwadi-bwa-kifwebe fraternity. It is true that in this region, during the nocturnal replenishment ceremony of a great nkishi, these masks were also brought out, since they were thought to hold a form of beneficial magic called buci.

According to certain theories, the horn or horns that appear at the top of the head or in the abdomen of a nkishi are not so much bishimba as independent bwanga which reinforce the power of the nkishi.

A nkishi could be personally named after one of the important people of the past.

Condition report:

Good. Wear commensurate with age and use.