• Yombe Nkondi Anti Sorcery Power Figure, DRC Congo #140
• Fetish with nails or nkondi in studded carved wood, glass and ropes
• Nail fetishes or nkondi are wooden sculptures, anthropomorphic or
• zoomorphic, covered with many accessories reputed to be magical and nails or bladesmetallic bearers of commitment or oaths. Pieces of fabric,feathers or reptile skins can complement them and mirrors or pieces of metal seal the ventral cavity and depict the eyes. The faces are usually sculpted with care unlike the rest of the body which will be concealed by all these accessories.
• These statues do not evoke an ancestor unlike reliquaries and only serve assupport for commitments and oaths taken before the community with the help of the fetishist (the nganga) who inserted nails and blades on behalf of the owner of the statue and who, given his relationship with the supernatural world, had the power to punish those who did not keep their promises.
• Measurements: : 43 X 14 X 15cm
• Condition: Good; Traces of wear (see pictures).