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Lot Essay
Dunja Hersak (in Africa Arts & Cultures, London, 2000, p.149-150) explains the significance of these large power figures which according to the Songye themselves 'should portray all the physical attributes of a man who can hold a weapon and defend himself'. Explaning the significance of their attributes she writes: "The blue beads often found on such figures relate to chiefship. Iron blades recall the role of the smith, a culture bearer, celebrated in oral tradition for his tranformative powers. Apart from these multiple devices associated with leadership, authority and ancestral heritage, other features such as the metal tacks and appliqué on the face, as well as the horn pegged into the head, allude more specifically to superhuman and bestial qualities. For the nkishi is not merely a visual and metaphoric representation. It is above all a receptacle for magical medicines (bishimba), and as such an instrument of change and stabilization used by a community to counteract illness, sterility, famine and other misfortunes caused by evil spirits and especially by sorcerers."
"Apart from certain conventions in form, external paraphernalia and even magical ingredients which constitute the defining cultural core of the object type, the creation of a community nkishi, also incorporates individual aspects of temporal concern and personalization. To begin with it is transformed from a carved piece of wood into a specifically expressive, named and coded magical mechanism by the nganga [the magical specialist]. It therefore becomes a unique creation and an extension of his individual artistry rather than that of the sculptor who simply fashioned its human-shaped shell, though with required and recognized skill. Furthermore, it is contextualized into action according to the needs of a specific client-group, often housed in its private enclosure like a sacred ruler, and subject to a particular ritual prescription of use and exposure assigned by the nganga. Being linked to a specific communal crisis, it is also an entity timed into an historical framework. Although its existence is subject to circumstantial change, it is remembered and its personal name evoked in reference to a period of the past with which it was associated. Generations of children born at the time of a nkishi, were assigned its name and continued to propagate recollection of its feats and accomplishments.
"Apart from certain conventions in form, external paraphernalia and even magical ingredients which constitute the defining cultural core of the object type, the creation of a community nkishi, also incorporates individual aspects of temporal concern and personalization. To begin with it is transformed from a carved piece of wood into a specifically expressive, named and coded magical mechanism by the nganga [the magical specialist]. It therefore becomes a unique creation and an extension of his individual artistry rather than that of the sculptor who simply fashioned its human-shaped shell, though with required and recognized skill. Furthermore, it is contextualized into action according to the needs of a specific client-group, often housed in its private enclosure like a sacred ruler, and subject to a particular ritual prescription of use and exposure assigned by the nganga. Being linked to a specific communal crisis, it is also an entity timed into an historical framework. Although its existence is subject to circumstantial change, it is remembered and its personal name evoked in reference to a period of the past with which it was associated. Generations of children born at the time of a nkishi, were assigned its name and continued to propagate recollection of its feats and accomplishments.