EO.1980.2.492
Nkishi. Krachtbeeld / Statue de force / Power figure. Lomami, RD Congo. [Songye]. 20th century. Wood, copper alloy, iron, plant fibre, horn, hide. Bequest from J. Walschot. 1980. EO.1980.2.492.
A private collection
This piece entered the Museum’s collections in 1980, following a bequest from the Brussels merchant and collector Jeanne Walschot, who died in 1977. The three-year period between the collector’s death and its entry into the Museum’s inventory can be explained by, among other things, the size of the collection, which consists of more than 3,000 objects and archives.
Incomplete information about the origin
This collection was built in Belgium throughout the 20th century, from the period of the First World War to the early 1970s. Walschot, an art dealer, had a shop in the centre of Brussels, which became renowned – also internationally – as a place for Congolese objects. She also bought objects through advertisements by colonial officers and actively researched the places where they had been.
Unfortunately, as is the case for many objects from private collections that are now held in the Museum, there is no information regarding the context of their acquisition in Congo itself. A relative identification of this type of object can only be obtained through comparative studies of style, iconography, materials, etc. conducted on similar and better-documented artefacts.