Nail Figure

between 1875 and 1900

Kongo, African

On View

African: Channeling Powerful Forces, Level 1, North Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

This Nail Figure served as doctor, judge, and priest. It was carved to capture the power of spirits (minkisi, singular nkisi), which was necessary for healing and adjudicating disputes. The figure was filled with powerful magical substances (bilongo) by priests (naganga) who tended it in a shrine and made its spirit powers available to individuals. The large cowrie shell held strong medicines that gave the sculpture its power. This nkisi n'kondi would have originally worn a large beard and a straw skirt. When an agreement was reached, both sides would swear an oath before the nkisi n'kondi and drive iron blades or nails into it to seal the oath. In this way the figure's supernatural powers could be called upon to punish those who broke their oaths.

Title Nail Figure

Artwork Date between 1875 and 1900

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. African

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Kongo

Medium Wood with screws, nails, blades, cowrie shell and other materials

Dimensions Overall: 45 1/2 inches × 18 1/2 inches × 15 inches (115.6 × 47 × 38.1 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department African Art

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 76.79

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Formerly in the Collection of: Museum fur Volkerkunde, Leipzig.

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Detroit Collects African Art. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1977, no. 136 (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA 56 (April, 1977): 13.

Bulletin of the DIA, no. 4 (1978): 206.

“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement, Detroit Free Press, May 20, 1979, 2 (ill.).

Armstrong, R. P. The Powers of Presence. Philadelphia, 1981, fig 2.

100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 68-69 (ill.).

Perspectives: Angles on African Art. Exh. cat., Center for African Art. New York, 1987.

African Masterworks In The Detroit Institute of Arts. Washington and London, 1995, cat. no. 58.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Kongo, African, Nail Figure, between 1875 and 1900, Wood with screws, nails, blades, cowrie shell and other materials. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art, 76.79.