RARE - African Art - Nkisi Nkondi ("kozo" - hunting dog) w/ COA

A "VERY RARE" 20th century Nkisi Nkondi ("kozo" - hunting dog) statue (15" l x 7" w x 6.5" t) made in Africa. Nkondi statues are central African spiritual statues that have an animalistic base, used by community members who would traditionally drive nails into the statue when making pleas for help. But as the nails and other sharp objects accumulate on the statue, they transform into magical fetish — an eye-spy of metaphors that map a community’s culture and history regarding hunting and the use of hunting dogs to find prey/food for they're village. Dogs in the Kongo were believed to communicate with both the spirit and human world. With this, it was said that they have two powerful eyes, which is depicted in this figure. With its ferocious appearance and violently pierced body, this dog was created to contain and direct a spirit in order to assist people in need, resolve conflicts, and punish wrongdoers. Nkondi means"hunter" in the Kongo language and refers to the spirit's power to track down a source of trouble. The spirit, or"nkisi," was drawn into the fetish sculpture through the application of medicinal ingredients packed in resin that were placed in a glass-covered box on the dog's back. Nails were driven into the figure each time its force was invoked through ritual, thereby provoking the spirit into action. Our nkisi nkondi kozo figure was most likely made before 1920, before colonial authorities restricted their use among the Kongo and decreased production of these intriguing sculptures.