Nkonde Fetish - Gabon Circa 1850 Personal Lehuard Collection

Exceptional for sale NKONDE Fetish from Gabon measuring 28.5cm long for a height of 16.5cm representing a dog pierced with wooden nails painted on the muzzle period 1850 These sculptures, anthropomorphic or zoomorphic, have long been classified in the category of vengeful spirits, but their function is much more ambivalent. It is when the Nganga completes the work of the sculptor by driving the nails into the Nkonde that the latter acquires its magical charge. Its action is not of a secret nature; on the contrary, its mission is public. Once the evils and their culprit determined, the nganga activates the force of the Nkonde by planting a nail or an iron blade, witnesses of the demand and especially of the agreement reached between the Nganga and his client ... often considered as malicious. , these statuettes have the essential role of restoring social harmony, disturbed by the harmful intentions of a third party. This sculpture comes from the personal collection of Raoul Lehuard (world specialist in Congo and Gabon) it is reproduced in his reference book "Fétiches a nails du Bas Zaire" page 39 (the book will be supplied with the sculpture) free shipping worldwide whole