Yoruba Brass staff w/man, pipe, 19th cent. Start Price USD 1,750.00 Current Price USD 1,750.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Wednesday, May 07, 2008 End Time Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Location Denver, CO See more about 'Yoruba Brass staff w/man, pipe, 19th cent.' Description Title: Yoruba Brass staff w/man, pipe, 19th cent. Type of Object: Artifact, pipe Ethnic Group: Yoruba, Southern region area of Oshogobo Country of Origin: Nigeria Materials: Brass Approximate Age: Late Nineteenth or Early Twentieth Dimensions: 18.5 inches Overall Condition: Good Damage, Repair: Ogboni (Oshugbo) Society Figure Yoruba (Southern region area of Oshogobo) Nigeria Material: Brass or Bronze Among the Yoruba who live in the Ijebu region of the southern Yoruba, a cult known as Oshugbo was open to all adult males and females. In the Oyo region the cult was known as Ogboni and spreading to other areas of the Yoruba the cult gained great power and authority serving political and judicial roles. Onile, an earth deity, the “owner of the earth” (earth mother') gave authority and sanctioned senior members of Ogboni to act for her. Membership in Oshugbo/Ogboni and the level of authority that one held within the secret society was indicated by ownership of bronze figures set into the earth before each member as they sat as a council of elders to settle disputes or deal with political affairs of the town. Cast brass or bronze figures such as this have been identified to Ogboni activities and their use can be dated in early Yoruba history, however their actual use and symbolic meaning is still not fully understood within this secretive cult. However as a symbolic object it is thought that they serve a similar purpose, as do the cast brass Ogboni figures among the Yoruba, indicating that the owner has the right and social obligation to participate in determining the community’s future and insuring social control. As a ‘title staff’ it would indicate one’s rank within the Society and reflect through the complex iconography active within Ogboni, the relationship with Ogun, the Yoruba deity of iron. The fact that the figure is smoking a pipe identifies him as an elite male with associations to Ogun and a devotee of founding ancestors related to an earth cult or the deity Onile. The small loop cast at the top of the head would have had a chain attached to it and joining it with another similar figure that could be worn around the neck of the Ogboni Society member or placed on the ground in front of the owner. This is a well used and important example of bronze casting from the Yoruba of Nigeria. Further Reading: R. F. Thompson: Black Gods and Kings: Yoruba Art at UCLA, (Los Angeles, 1971) W. Fagg and J. Pemberton III: Yoruba Sculpture of West Africa, (New York, 1982) H. Witte: Earth and the Ancestors: Ogboni Iconography, (Amsterdam,1988) H. J. Drewal and J. Pemberton III, with R. Abiodun Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought, (New York, 1989)I have examined this piece and agree with the description.Niangi Batulukisi, Ph.D.**006529** All content, including pictures, Copyright Africa Direct Inc., 2006 Add Us To Your Favorite Sellers! Please visit our About Us page. SquareTrade © AP6.0 PesaMember Place a Bid!