lakal:

Thank you PhysicsQED for the additional pictures of the Akaba Idena!

PhysicsQED:

@ alj harem,

You posted some interesting pictures, but some of the stuff you posted is not Yoruba art though.

The Ododowa mask you posted is from Benin. The messenger with the cross is also a Benin artwork.

The warrior figure with the shield and the bell around his neck with the leopard teeth collar is from the Lower Niger Bronze group (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1977.173), which is not necessarily Yoruba. The outfit he's wearing with the leopard teeth suggest that he's from a group more directly related to Edo. Also the two marks above his nose (the so-called "can of eye" marks) that indicate seriousness or determination, indicate that the caster was familiar with the aesthetic worldview of the Edo artists or had a similar artistic perception. The eyes on the figure are in a Yoruba style however, so given the combination of Edo and Yoruba aspects to the figure, maybe it's an Itsekiri warrior by an Itsekiri artist.

The bell with the horse face design is also from that lower Niger bronze industry, which is more likely to be Itsekiri, Isoko, etc. than Yoruba.

alj_harem:

Yes might be so but your link stated that The term

"Lower Niger Bronze Industry" has been used by art historians to classify ancient copper-alloy sculpture discovered in the area of the Niger Valley that could not be traced directly to the famous metalworking centers of Benin and Ife. Since this label actually refers to a multitude of provincial casting sites, each with varying styles and techniques, one scholar has suggested that "Lower Niger Bronze Industries" would be a more apt description. Less is known of Lower Niger Bronze Industry works than those of Benin and Ife, but their existence suggests that copper-alloy casting was once widespread in what is now southern Nigeria."

I do not think it is itsekiri, because ife and benin culture and heritage were interwoven back then and might be form either one of the two groups.

Some say it was benin others say it was yoruba

but itsekiri, no because itsekiri did not deal with iron or bronze but with woods.

anyway; one of the two

PhysicsQED:


No, the link was just saying that less is known about the lower Niger Bronze industry than is known about art from Benin or Ife. It wasn't saying that warrior figure or the art was necessarily of Benin or Ife origin.

And the two slits above his eye clearly indicate an Edo association on the part of the artist making the sculpture, as does the leopard teeth necklace, but the eyes are like those in several Yoruba sculptures.

alj_harem:



Subjects prostate themselves before an African oba as the Portuguese make their first contact – Late fifteenth century (Ketu present day benin)

PhysicsQED:

That isn't a drawing of Ketu's ruler. I'm pretty sure that's something that attempts to depict a ruler of the Kongo.

Are you deliberately posting unrelated images and relabeling them as Yoruba?

PhysicsQED:

That isn't a drawing of Ketu's ruler. I'm pretty sure that's something that attempts to depict a ruler of the Kongo.

Are you deliberately posting unrelated images and relabeling them as Yoruba?

alj_harem:

http://www.eamb.org/tag/historical-figures/

PhysicsQED:

Oh, I see. So it was the website that you got the pictures from that was wrong.

That's definitely a depiction of a Kongo monarch: http://old.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence/slave_routes/slave_routes_portugal.shtml



Anyway, do carry on posting more interesting pictures. Many of these are completely new to me.

tpia@:

this was dated 12th century

PhysicsQED:

That isn't a drawing of Ketu's ruler. I'm pretty sure that's something that attempts to depict a ruler of the Kongo.

Are you deliberately posting unrelated images and relabeling them as Yoruba?