Item Description: A standing figure with an elongated head which takes up roughly 1/4 of the entire piece. The body has a protruding stomach with an indentation in it (as a navel). The figure has noticeable scarification patterns. Each nkisi/nkishi has its own personality and associated powers.

Cultural Profile: The Songye people are known for their skill at producing "frightening" power figures (mkishi, pl. or nkishi, sing.). Such figures were described as "fetish" in early Western literature. The Songye live along the eastern Kasai River area and appear to share several of the stylistic characteristics of their neighbors, the Luba, Hemba, and Bena Lulua. The Basongye use this type of sculpture, called power figures which are actually containers for strong magic or medicinal substances believed to contain supernatural properties, in healing or in jurally contexts. However, the sculpture may be used for many purposes and requires two individuals to create: first, the sculptor who carves the human or animal figure and second, the person who completes the figure, handling the ingredients and placing them in desired place on the figure or inside the proper cavity. The power may be in the form of nails driven into figures, or it may derive from small ball-shaped cloth bags attached to figures, and in some cases stuffed into cavities in the sculpture. The figures are used in rituals to achieve both positive and negative results.