Ngonde "Crossroads" Nkisi - Central Africa

Description

True and objective "nkisi" realities are maintained with
their association in dreams
- and with *certain* deities which send dreams - not of common Western (incorrect) interpretations.
The term "nkisi" among ancient African civilizations translates as "deity", and generally "of dreams."
In addition to ancestral dreams, ancient
Koongo
cosmology
expresses the presence of nature spirits (water, earth, the four winds) and principle beliefs can be found within many world religions today
;
Catholicism and Christianity (Archangel Michael and St. Peter, etc.)
Yoruba deities, "Mama Wanga"- Mayombe
... African religions are espoused today from Cuba, the Caribbean and Trinidad
the indigenous Garifuna peoples
Haiti
and through-out the Americas.
The attribution of "nails", "spikes", "shards / blades" and other iron elements driven into the figurative object provides an often (violent) symbolic appearance... As with the protruding tongue, ropes connected to the nails / metal shards, etc.. There are multiple suggestions as to why iron was driven into an "nkondi / nkisi" by means of force.
During the late 19th, early 20th century, nails driven into "nkisi-minkisi" are believed to assist in determining an accused person's guilt, responsibility or blame was widely documented.   The suspect would be directed to remove the nail with his or her hands, and if he/she failed, this was interpreted as a sign of guilt.  Another use for nails driven into sculpture was to seal agreements with a vow. The iron elements were also believed to have an active role with spiritual "bilongo" substances within the nkisi. Some figures show signs of removed nails or other iron elements. In-part, this signifies a completion of the particular mission of the "nkisi."
Some "nikisi-minkisi" figures were associated with war -
"Nduda."
Among Kongolese beliefs; the feather headdress associates the figure with the violence of "the above."  When referring to "violence above", Kongolese were associating this with thunder and lightening storms.  Such figures threated the viewer with spears held in the figures hand, the figures often had mirrors on them, used for "nganga" divination... "Ngangas" could tell whether a warrior was vulnerable that day and should therefore stay away from the battle.  Warriors were known to carry certain small figures in bags (around their shoulders) to protect them during battle and long dangerous journeys. The small bags also contained "hallow tubes stuffed with gun powder to protect the bearer against witchcraft."  Since graves contain ancestral forces and other spirit powers available, an  entire cemetery becomes a source of substances used as protective medicine.  It is placed near the entrance to a village as a shielding force and a source of ordering power for the community.  In fact, for this very reason, some "nkisi-minkisi" were actually composed in the cemetery, and many required 'grave-dirt' as part of their activating substances.
The Crossroads Pose
This Ngonde 'nkisi' is fashioned in the ancient "crossroads" pose - right hand up to heaven, left hand parallel to the horizon line - characterizing the "
niombo
" figure.
The
"
niombo
"
of the Kongo is equivalent to the Yoruba "orisha", or ancient Egyptian "neters" (or Bes).
This gesture (or pose) is also found in ancient Semitic Kongo, Cameroon and Nigeria works - also known among Haiti, Brazil and the southern regions of the U.S via vodun.
The *
right hand up and left hand down
* recalls anthropomorphic reading of the hand-guards of the 'mbele a lulendo' (knife of authority), the royal swords of execution in ancient Kongo. Within the Kongo, this gesture marked "swords and niombo" - marking boundaries between two worlds (upper and lower worlds).
The relationship between ancient Egyptians and sub-Saharan African cultures make an even stronger case for cross continental and cultural influence "poses."  These poses may actually come from Central Africa.  The link between ancient Egypt and sub-Saharan "Africanisms" today are invariably clear and foolishly disputed:
1). the PAKALALA pose
2). the AKIMBO pose
3). the TELAMA pose
4).
the CROSSROADS pose
5). the MAMBU pose
Concepts and understanding related to "nkisi-minkisi", "nkondi", "bilongo", "nganga" and specifically Bantu Cosmology are quite advanced, complex and misinterpreted today.
The subject extends far greater than current European / Western trite and ideas - often expressed that belies truth - speaking of illusionary notions of *savage fetishism.*
After-all, it isn't as though these migratory (African) Semitic peoples were never known to (Gael) Slav-Rus peoples... Their ancestors knew and were intimately familiar with them!
From the second half of the 19th century, (of course) an unprecedented array of "minkisi" were developed - or "fabricated" - in response to 'incursions by colonial traders' into the interior and related social concerns.
Condition
(see photos):
Measures 28 inches tall x 12 inches long x 12 inches deep.
Weighs 34.1 pounds.
It is heavy.
(Wooden) Spear measures 16.5 inches long x approx. 1/2 diameter.
Consistent with an early to mid-20th Century work
; various size hand forged blacksmith nails / shards, animal bone incasing (front and back), glass roving eyes,  resin sealed mirror "bilongo" stomach cavity, earth, cloth and "binding" raffia twine (rope).
Magic-power cavity on the crown of the head (2nd photo).
Stable-aged cracks; head, left arm, feet base.
Bottom of base has hard, dry and dense-caked dirt (hard to remove) as well as concentrated areas of naturally occurring wood erosion.
Genuine "nkisi-minkisi" (from a dated former time) are now indeed rare and nearly culturally obsolete.
A
truly aged, strikingly credible and convincingly exceptional example...
The photos really do not convey justice!!
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