250736 Afrikaans Bakongo Nkisi Nkondi beeldje uit Congo.

Expressive African nail Nkondi statue with Glass eyes from the Bakongo, Congo.
Height are 30 cm.

The protective power of this nail nkondi (the telema lwinbanganga posture adopted by the Kongo nobility and the soothsayers as a sign of absolute authority, eyes set with glass that would increase clairvoyance, knives and nails that recall the actions that sealed the history of the community, and traces of polychromy with therapeutic virtues) respond to the virtuosity of the sculptural gesture. The power of the streamlined face emphasizes the sensitivity of the facial features, through which the Kongo ideal of beauty is superbly translated: very finely modeled, fleshy mouth, slightly curved nose, shaded eyebrows, ears with detailed auricles. Stylistically, this statue is linked to the corpus of Vili sculptures.