CONGOLESE KONGO VILI FIGURINE. Dark brown wooden Kongo Vili figurine depicting a man riding an animal, possibly a dog or a leopard. This figurine is likely a Nkisi power object, used by ritual practitioners of the Vili people from the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo. The man is depicted with his tongue protruding, possibly indicating he is chewing on a hallucinogenic root called munkwisa, a practice associated with these figures. The object on his belly is a receptacle that would have held magic ingredients to harness ancestral power for healing and protection.
