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

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 ----------

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

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Provenance

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

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

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.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Detroit Collects African Art. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, 1977, no. 136 (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA 56, no. 1 (April 1977): p. 13.

Bulletin of the DIA 56, no. 4 (1978): p. 206.

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

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.