  About the Artwork
  
  
  Known as nkisi nkonde, or the great nkisi, this sculpture served as a “container” for powerful medicines and a spiritual force. It performed specific functions, including settling disputes, ratifying agreements and contracts, healing illnesses, and harming enemies. Such objects are widely found among the Kongo and related peoples. 

Creating the nkisi began with commissioning a human or animal sculpture of wood with a cavity either in the head, the navel, or both. A diviner or ritual specialist prepared medicines composed of elements from bodies of water, selected herbs, and various animal parts, which he inserted into the sculpture’s cavity. Grave dirt endowed the piece with ancestral authority. A large cowrie shell covers this sculpture’s hole. Following its ritual blessing, the owners received secret verbal incantations enabling them to activate and direct the spiritual force to perform its intended functions. With each ritual, a nail was driven into the figure; the number of nails bristling from this example reveals its historical significance. Because of its enormous size, this nkisi probably protected a whole community rather than just a family.

The most celebrated sculpture in the museum’s African collection, this figure has lost some original components. Although it appears naked now, it probably wore a raffia skirt, which enhanced its aura.
  
  
  Title
  Nail Figure
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1875 and 1900
  
  Artist
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  Life Dates
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  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
  
  
  Copyright
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