Statue Nkishi People Songye / Songe - Dr Congo African Art early 20th century
Old Big Authentic Antique And Rare Nkishi Powerful Statue Songye / Songe People - Dr Congo
Period: early 20th century
Height: 58 cm
Very beautiful patina
Note : Spirits of the dead, whether benevolent or malevolent, were thought to interfere in individuals’ daily affairs. Mankishi were used for a community’s well-being, assuring fertility, protecting against illnesses, and generally keeping malevolent forces at bay. Their commissioning reflected a fear that disruptive forces would damage the village’s unity. Hersak states that mankishi “provided the assurance of continuity and oneness in the context of drastic population decrease and disintegration of large-scale chiefships during the last three decades of the 19th century” (Hersak 2010: 41). They represented a collective identity and could survive generations. Communal mankishi were given honorific names and their existence was remembered well after they ceased to be used. They eventually served as markers of time, as civic events came to be associated with the period of a specific nkishi’s activity.