File:Brooklyn Museum 56.6.98 Power Figure Nkisi Nkondi (3).jpg

English: Standing figure with right arm raised, stomach has square box for magical material covered with piece of glass. Figure stands on base, mouth open, tongue protrudes, glass inlaid eyes. Surface covered with tar(?) (heavy black substance). Form almost completely covered by nails. CONDITION: Poor; wood split up legs, arms broken, wood rotted, glass on container cracked.

English: An nkisi nkondi serves as a container for potent ingredients used in magic and medicine, and in judicial and healing contexts. To make an nkisi nkondi, a carver begins by sculpting a human or animal figure with a cavity in the abdomen; then a ritual expert completes the work by placing ingredients with supernatural powers on the object and in the cavity provided. He activates the figure by breathing into the cavity and immediately seals it off with a mirror. Nails and blades are driven into the figure, either to affirm an oath or to destroy an evil force. The figure's pose suggests that it may once have been carrying a knife or spear.