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Descrizione : height 47 1/2 in. (1.21m.) nkisi, standing leaning slightly forward on large rectangular blocks, with finely carved feet and prominent protruding ankle bones beneath muscular legs, the torso flaring to broad rounded shoulders with a distinct ridge along the top, and leading to arms akimbo, and wearing a carved knotted band encircling each upper arm, the neck carved as a distinct section leaning forward to support the upward-projecting elliptical head, the flat chin encircled by the remains of a beard and numerous metal spikes inset, and the face with large naturalistic mouth baring filed teeth beneath a naturalistic nose and inset porcelain eyes with brass tacks for the pupils, framed by raised arching brows and finely carved pierced scrolling ears, and wearing a typical chief's headdress incised in high relief with interlocking geometric forms and a pyramidal form at the crown, a large oval fetish bundle inset with a massive cowrie shell and attached to the center of the torso surrounded by numerous metal slats inset, fine and varied dark brown patina with the remains of red, white and black pigments on the face. This extremely large Kongo figure was brought from Africa circa 1920. The figure was purchased by the current owner's father, an artist, in the early 1920's. To our knowledge the other known large scale Kongo nkisi from the Chiloango River atelier are in the following institutions: 1. Musee Royale de L' Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, registered 1912 2. The Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, inventory number 1407-14, registered 1903 3. Musee National des Arts Africains et Oceaniens, inventory number 1963-175 4. The Detroit Institute of Arts, inventory number 76.79, collected by Visser, formerly in the collection of the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Leipzig 5. Museum Nazionale Preistorico Ethnografico L. Pigorini, Rome, inventory number 75909, registered 1906 6. The Dallas Museum of Art 7.The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, collectd by W.D. Webster, registered 1907 8. The Museum voor Land en Volkenkunde, Rotterdam, registered in 1906 9. The Museum fur Volkerkunde, Leipzig, collected by Visser, inventory number MBF 8979 10. The Museum fur Volkerkunde, Leipzig, collected by Visser in 1909 11. The Linden Museum, Stuttgart, collected by Visser The large Minkisi Minkondi (singular Nkisi Nkondi) of the Kongo, which were commonly and hurriedly named nail fetishes in the specialized literature, are among the most impressive African works of art. This corpus of sculptures, more than other works of African art, illustrates the preconceived judgment of Western evolutionists about the so-called 'savage' state of African civilizations of the past. It is not by chance that in the second half of the 19th century the summarizing definition of a 'fetish' in the famous Dictionnaire de la Langue Francaise by Littre read: Crude idol worshipped by the blacks. The Kongo figure offered for sale here is part of a coherent group of carvings (little more than a dozen exist, to my knowledge, mostly held in museums) that show similar characteristics. The similarities lead me to believe that this corpus of large statues were carved in one workshop, and in a fairly short span of time during the second half of the 19th century. The known dates of collection or acquisition of these sculptures by museums confirms this hypothesis. Seven sculptures of this corpus entered Western museums in the first decade of the 20th century. The great number of nails and blades driven into the sculptures as well as evident wear proves unquestionably they were used extensively, and suggests the carvings were created at least some decades before they were collected. Littre's 19th century definition of 'fetish' blindly followed the negative attitude of Christian missionaries over the preceding centuries, especially the Italian Capuchin Fathers of the famous Missio Antiqua (1613-1833) who preached in the ancient kingdoms of Kongo, Loango and Angola. In their work, the Capuchin Fathers made large bonfires of the 'idols'. Their opinion of Kongo sculptures is evident in writings such as that of Father Antontio Zucchelli da Gradisca (1712: 326) who wrote in 1702 that he saw some 'idols', ugly wooden snouts roughly carved with an axe, while on his way to the capital of Ngoyo in the Lower Congo. Regrettably, the missionary did not supply information on the morphology of the despised carvings. In the 20th century, a better knowledge of African traditional culture, and in our case Kongo culture, in conjunction with an increasing awareness of the artistic quality of African works of art, have deeply modified our notion of the nature and purpose of Kongo sculptures. Our subsequent reevaluation of the supposed ugliness of these large disturbing figures has in fact made them among the works of art most sought after by museums and private collections for their high formal qualities. A Nkisi Nkondi, thing that do thing, is multi-functional, serving as a representation of a chief, doctor, priest and judge all at one time (Thompson 1978). Each figure is made effective through the addition of carefully combined ingredients, the medicine, by the nganga (plur. banganga: ritual expert, healer, diviner, and magician) who is its caretaker and operator. The action of a Nkisi Nkondi is ambiguous: it protects the community against the criminals and witches and indissolubly seals pacts and agreements, contrarily, it can also cause illness and death. The Nkondi is invoked by driving nails or blades into it, all done by precise protocol. The result gives the sculpture the aggressive final look which so much impressed the first collectors of this genre. The addition of the medicine and the driving of the nails and blades by different hands creates a new sculpture by modifying the original aspect. This enrichment transforms the wooden carving into a cumulative work of art. A Nkisi Nkondi from this corpus of large scale statues is illustrated in a photograph held in the M. R. A. C. of Tervuren, taken in 1896 in an unknown place of the former Belgian colony. The statue in the photograph is bristling with nails indicating that it was used for a rather long time. A number of distinct iconographical features identify this small corpus: the common stance of the figures is with head boldly raised, hands akimbo, legs slightly apart, large feet resting on separate stands, and their size--from 109 to 120 centimeters. These elements suggest a common origin. In particular the scale is exceptional in the panorama of African traditional art as few wooden carvings reach this size on the whole continent. A series of additional similarities strengthen the hypothesis that this group of figures were carved in the same workshop. The half open mouth showing the filed teeth, the ears, elegant as a precious shell, the cap with dentate borders and engraved geometrical patterns, the armlets squeeze the muscles just above the elbows. Furthermore, the likeness of the placement and treatment of the fiber skirt on nearly all the corpus, unifies this group. In addition, the shape and placement of the containers of the medicine are identical. The medicine bundle placed at the chin as a heavy beard from ear to ear fixed by means of long nails, still visible in the specimens that lost the resinous material, suggests their compilation by the same nganga. In the case of the figure offered here, the resinous material of the beard is absent--only the metal spikes can be seen. No Nkisi Nkondi, to my knowledge, show this common characteristic except for the specimens from this atelier. In my 1977 article, Kongo Nail Fetishes from the Chiloango River Area, I advanced the opinion that the workshop in which seven large scale figures (those known to me at that time) were carved, was located in the region washed by the Chiloango River. The river which flows at the border between today's Democratic Republic of Congo and Cabinda, to end its course in the Atlantic after a last part of its course in the Angolan enclave. My opinion was based on the notes concerning the large scale figures of the museums of Mainz, Stuttgart and Manchester, which mention the Chiloango River in the data on collection. Raoul Lehuard (1989: 286-302), in his detailed analysis of Kongo art, found my hypothesis too vague because the style of the carvings according to ethnic group, i.e. Yombe, Vili or Woyo, was not specialized. On his part, Lehuard assigned these large scale figures to the Vili, explaining the grounds of his choice. For an attribution based on ethnic origin, I am more inclined to attribute the large Minkisi Minkonde to Yombe artists. However, as we lack precise details about where most of the carvings were collected, I prefer to keep to my previous generic hypothesis, that the workshop was located near the Chiloango river, where a handful of artists, more or less in the same years, carved this small group of known large figures, and probably others not yet identified or lost. Furthermore, I have no doubt that the figure offered for sale, the most recent discovery belonging to the large-scale corpus should be attributed to the same artist who carved the sculpture held in the Museum Pigorini in Rome (see Falgayrettes, 1989: 48,51). The Pigorini sculpture was collected before 1906 in an undocumented region by Carmelo Scardino, who served as a captain in the Force Public of the Free State of Congo from 1903 to 1906. More than one morphological element is particular to both carvings. The similarities are as follows: the half-moon shaped eyes made of shell or porcelain under heavy lids, the hat that is raised in a pyramidal form (more pronounced than in the other figures from this group except the one in Chicago, see Lehuard 1989:297), the perfect half-circle of the outline of the shoulders, the like tapering, a true and distinct line which marks the convergence of the front and the back surfaces of the sculpture, the powerful neck arising from between the shoulder blades in a rounded swelling, the unique muscular structure of the large back. The artist carved the upper back in a slight relief, the bottom of which is outlined by an elegant curved line, and below a vertical indentation delineating the spine. The joint of the knees is not marked while the ankles are accurately carved. The above analogies support the attribution of both carvings to the same highly talented artist, gifted with a great expressive originality, who, even though he shared the figurative canons of his workshop, did not feel conditioned by them--a true master who impressed on his monumental figure the unique seal of his personality. Ezio Bassani Bibliography Bassani, E. Kongo Fetishes from the Chiloango River Area, African Arts, x/3, 1977, 36-40. Falgayrettes, C. De L'Indicible a l'oeuvre, Objets interdits, Musee Dapper, Paris, 1989, 32-65. Lehuard, R., Art Bakongo--les centres de style, Arnouville, 1989. Thompson, Robert F., The Grand Detroit N'kondi, Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Art, 4, 1978. Zucchelli, Antonio Zuchelli da Gradisca, Relazione del viaggio e missione di Congo nell'Etiopia Interiore Occidentale, Venice, 1712.
Prezzo: 1 432 500.00 USD 🔓Senza carta di credito.
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