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Lot Essay
La surface de cette statue nkisi est en grande partie recouverte de clous métalliques, conférant à la tête, mais aussi au corps, une apparence puissante et surnaturelle. L’anthropologue Alan P. Merriam a observé que les clous en cuivre, appelés elengyela, recouvrant la statuette, pouvaient témoigner de différentes séances d’utilisation par un devin, tout en servant également à l’embellir (An African World. The Basongye Village of Lupupa Ngye, Bloomington, 1974).
Des auteurs comme Christopher Roy ont associé ce type de statues cloutées à une épidémie de variole qui a ravagé le pays songyé entre 1920 et 1930 (Kilengi, Seattle, 1997, pp. 190 et 191, n° 110), les clous évoquant les pustules caractéristiques de la maladie. Cependant, la présence d’une statue cloutée dans les collections du Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale, acquise avant 1912 (inv. n° EO.0.0.0.3678-1), suggère que cette tradition existait déjà avant l’épidémie du XXe siècle, et que ces statues remplissaient une fonction protectrice plus large. L'Ethnologisches Museum de Berlin conserve une autre statue archaïque songyé recouverte de clous (inv. n° III.C.1792), acquise par Hermann von Wissmann entre 1881 et 1882.
The surface of this nkisi figure is largely covered with metal nails, conferring especially to the head but also the body a powerful and supernatural appearance. Anthropologist Alan P. Merriam observed that the copper nails, called elengyela covering the statuette, could be evidence of different sessions of use by a diviner, while also embellishing the figure (An African World. The Basongye Village of Lupupa Ngye, Bloomington, 1974).
Authors like Christopher Roy have associated this type of nail-covered statues with a smallpox epidemic that ravaged the Songye country from 1920 to 1930 (Kilengi, Seattle, 1997, pp. 190 and 191, no. 110), with the nails referencing the characteristic pustules of the disease. However, the presence of a nail-studded statue in the collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, acquired before 1912 (inv. no. EO.0.0.0.3678-1), suggests that this tradition existed before the XXth-century epidemic and that these statues had a broader protective function. The Ethnologisches Museum of Berlin houses another archaic Songye statue covered with nails (inv. no. III.C.1792), acquired by Hermann von Wissmann between 1881 and 1882.
Des auteurs comme Christopher Roy ont associé ce type de statues cloutées à une épidémie de variole qui a ravagé le pays songyé entre 1920 et 1930 (Kilengi, Seattle, 1997, pp. 190 et 191, n° 110), les clous évoquant les pustules caractéristiques de la maladie. Cependant, la présence d’une statue cloutée dans les collections du Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale, acquise avant 1912 (inv. n° EO.0.0.0.3678-1), suggère que cette tradition existait déjà avant l’épidémie du XXe siècle, et que ces statues remplissaient une fonction protectrice plus large. L'Ethnologisches Museum de Berlin conserve une autre statue archaïque songyé recouverte de clous (inv. n° III.C.1792), acquise par Hermann von Wissmann entre 1881 et 1882.
The surface of this nkisi figure is largely covered with metal nails, conferring especially to the head but also the body a powerful and supernatural appearance. Anthropologist Alan P. Merriam observed that the copper nails, called elengyela covering the statuette, could be evidence of different sessions of use by a diviner, while also embellishing the figure (An African World. The Basongye Village of Lupupa Ngye, Bloomington, 1974).
Authors like Christopher Roy have associated this type of nail-covered statues with a smallpox epidemic that ravaged the Songye country from 1920 to 1930 (Kilengi, Seattle, 1997, pp. 190 and 191, no. 110), with the nails referencing the characteristic pustules of the disease. However, the presence of a nail-studded statue in the collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, acquired before 1912 (inv. no. EO.0.0.0.3678-1), suggests that this tradition existed before the XXth-century epidemic and that these statues had a broader protective function. The Ethnologisches Museum of Berlin houses another archaic Songye statue covered with nails (inv. no. III.C.1792), acquired by Hermann von Wissmann between 1881 and 1882.