Songye people | community power figure | African Art & South Pacific

Africa, the South Pacific, and the Americas

community power figure

Culture or people Songye people
Creation date 1900-1930
Materials wood, cloth, feathers, fur, reptile skin, metals, pigment
Dimensions H: 33 in.
Credit line The Ballard Fund, Lucille Stewart Endowed Art Fund, E. Hardey Adriance Fine Arts Acquisition Fund in memory of Marguerite Hardey Adriance, Roger G. Wolcott Fund and Mary V. Black Art Endowment Fund
Accession number 2005.21

Gallery Label

This figure belongs to a widespread Central African tradition of maintaining power figures that derive their authority from the insertion and application of spiritually charged substances. The identity of these substances is secret to the ritual specialist who applies them and varies significantly. Some of the many documented substances include certain river clay, some herbs, ashes of burnt trees from a battleground and the flesh of someone who has committed suicide.

These sacred substances are found at the top of the head, the mouth, the ears, the abdomenand the anus. The accompanying photographsof an x-ray reveals some of the insertions and applications of sacred substances. Substances in the head, abdomen and

Large Songye power figures like this example belonged to the entire community, while small power figures were owned by individuals. This figure would have been brought out to a community gathering to deal with occasional communal concerns such as crop failure, widespread illness, or a territorial dispute with a neighboring village. The figure with its spiritual charge was considered a protective entity.

Descriptive tags added by visitors:

african, ashes, Basonge, Basongye, Bayembe, brown, carving, clay, feathers, hair, herbs, person, power, ritual, sacred, Songe, Songye, tradition, wood
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The large Songye power figure, acquired in 2005, represents a major enhancement of the museum's holdings of Central African art. It is particularly interesting because radiographs reveal the presence of substances in the head and torso that are considered by the Songye to be sacred and empowering. This figure would have been brought out to a community gathering to deal with occasional communal concerns, such as crop failure, widespread illness, or a territorial dispute with a neighboring village. The figure, with its spiritual charge, was considered a protective entity.

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