KONGO NAIL POWER FIGURE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

decorated with skin and a tusk from the red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus).

Ernst and Ruth Anspach, New York, acquired from a Dutch dealer in June 1967
Acquired by the present owner from the above on June 21, 1995

University of Notre Dame Art Gallery, Notre Dame, Anspach Collection, March 17 – May 12, 1968
Brainerd Hall Art Gallery, State University College, Potsdam, African Sculpture: Rare and Familiar Forms from the Anspach Collection, October 1974
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts, February 1 - April 2, 1978, additional venues through December 1979:
Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
St. Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis
University of Washington, Seattle
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

University of Notre Dame (ed., foreword by Roy Sieber), Anspach Collection, Notre Dame, 1968, cat. 97 (not ill.)
George Nelson Preston, African Sculpture: Rare and Familiar Forms from the Anspach Collection, Potsdam, New York, 1974, cat. 16
Michael Vlach, The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts, Washington, D.C.,1978, pl. 78

Very good condition overall for an object of this type. Age cracks through proper right arm and chest, with native repair through elbow. Proper right ear chipped. Nicks and scratches throughout from traditional handling. Exceptionally fine dark brown patina with red, black, and white pigment. Fiber and cloth attachments fragile and partially loose. Age cracks to boar's tusk. Mirror oxidized as seen in photographs.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Widely exhibited and published as part of the Anspach Collection, the present lot is one of the most beautiful and best preserved small Kongo power figures in private hands. The original nails, the metal blade in the proper right hand and the magical charges in the abdomen and the head's inside all remain in their original locations. The figure shows a so-called oath taking gesture with the proper right arm upraised holding a blade, or baaka, an ancient type of knife used for extracting the milk of the palm wine tree. The blade was believed to have the power to kill by supernatural means, and by analogy the verb baaka meant not only to extract wine but also to demolish and destroy (Thompson 1978: 216-217).

According the Lehuard (1980: 135), power figures with black faces are rarer than those with red or white faces. While white pigment is symbolic of death, black is associated with life.

The Anspach figure is distinguished by a highly refined archaic style. In a handwritten letter to the present owner, Ernst Anspach wrote on June 21, 1995: "The object has been in my collection since June 1967 when I acquired it from a Dutch dealer. According to Frère Joseph Cornet, at the time of his visit Director of the Kinshasa Museum, it was the most beautiful small nail fetish he had ever seen."