A superb Songe male power figure

nkisi, rising from a dome-shaped base, the flat feet beneath the faceted, muscular legs and pendant phallus, the tapered torso framed by thick bent arms with broad hands resting on the abdomen with hollowed navel for insertion, the neck encircled by glass beads and an attached monkey tooth, the head dramatically turned to the right side with pendant beard pierced at the tip with a brass ring, the smiling mouth baring teeth and a central gap for insertion beneath the broad nose and arching brows surrounding the eyes, the right eye open and the left closed, wearing a elaborate resin and feather headdress with a horn attached and another inserted at the crown; exceptionally fine black and resinous patina.

Alain Schoffel, Paris
Acquired from Lipkin Gallery, London, 1978

The Brill Songe power figure, nkisi, is an exceptional example of its type demonstrating an overall sharpness and faceting of the body and dynamic asymmetry with the head turned sharply to the side. While the sinister smile together with the organic quality of the headdress and the heavily developed patina give the figure a sense of wildness and movement, the broad hands resting on the abdomen and the flat feet resting squarely on the raised base may be interpreted as symbolizing a stabilizing force keeping the power directed and in control.

The Brill figure is a type of  Songe mankishi (pl.) used by individuals or families. These smaller figures and the larger community figures were used to channel the power of ancestors, spirits of nature, the dead and other more ambivalent spiritual entities, mukishi. 'Songe sculpture conforms to certain magico-social standards and is fashioned under the direction of a ritual specialist, the nganga. For small scale sculptures, like the Brill work, the nganga solicits the sculptor and imposes criteria on the creation of the work.' Within Songe territory there are multiple chiefdoms and the sculptors are highly influenced by the requirements of the nganga, making a comprehensive stylistic analysis of Songe works difficult to outline (Maurer and Batalukisi 1999: 130-132). However, with respect to meaning, Mestach (in Roy 1992: 162) has suggested that in general Songe power figures personify a terrible and malevolent 'spirit'. In particular, the turned head expresses hidden intentions and lies among the Songe. 'The representation [of a figure with head turned to the side] is found among the Luba of Kasongo Niembo and represents the spirit Umba Kilubi, Prince of Darkness, whose kingdom, Kalunga ka Musono is located in the bowels of the earth. In the underworld, he is the ferryman on the river of death, invoked by the sorcerer who calls upon the spirits of the dead'.

See also Neyt (2004: 12-19) for related figures with heads turned to the side.