Mangaaka, Kongo Nkisi figure, judicial and social order

7.5a Mangaaka (Power Figure, nkisi n'kondi) | Yombe, Chiloango river region (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, or Angola) | 19th century, wood, iron, porcelain, pigments, acquired in 1904 from Robert Visser, III C 17114 | Confronting the viewer with its power, this mangaaka figure helped maintain justice and order in the Yombe region north of the lower Congo river. At the same time, it was meant to fend off evil and support the social order at a time of traumatic upheaval caused by the "scramble for Africa" by European powers.