The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 3, 2022

Figurine

late 1800s-early 1900s

Central Africa, Republic of the Congo, Kongo people

Wood, organic materials (including resin), iron, reed, tooth, seashell or glass beads, and possibly plastic

Overall: 12 x 4 x 4 cm (4 3/4 x 1 9/16 x 1 9/16 in.)

René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2010.442

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

This small figure belonged to “the sorcerer of Loango,” chief of all sorcerers of that region (a province and port in West Central Africa).

Description

One of seven anthropomorphic figurines, these minkisi contained medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. Minkisi were objects of communal use; if conflict arose between two citizens, the Nkisi figure, along with the nganga (ritual leader) helped resolve the dispute. This small figure belonged to “the sorcerer of Loango,” chief of all sorcerers of that region (a province and port in West Central Africa).

Provenance
?-1961
(Unidentified art dealer, Nice, FR, 1961, sold to René and Odette Delenne)
1961-2010
René [1901-1998] and Odette Delenne [1925-2012], Brussels, BE, 2010, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
2010
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 2010
Citations
Petridis, Constantine, et al. Fragments of the Invisible: The René and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art. Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2013, 54-58. Mentioned: pp. 54-58, 113; reproduced: p. 58-60, cat. 19
Exhibition history

Fragments of the Invisible: The Rene and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 27, 2013-February 9, 2014).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.442