Ife and Yoruba

Ife sculptureBrass figure of an oni (“king”) of Ife, 14th–15th century; in the Museum of
Ife Antiquities, Lagos, Nigeria. Height: 46.7 cm.(more)
The Yoruba peoples inhabit a large part of southwestern Nigeria. Their art traditions are
of considerable antiquity. Excavations at Ife, in central Yorubaland (the site of the
creation of the world in some Yoruba myths), have shown that naturalistic sculpture in
brass and pottery was being produced sometime between 1100 and 1450 ce. The
sculptures may represent royal figures and their attendants, and life-size portrait heads
in brass were perhaps used as part of funerary effigies. During this time, Ife appears to
have had widespread importance, and the naturalism of its art seems to have influenced
the basic development of Yoruba sculptural style. Throughout Yorubaland, human
figures are represented in a fundamentally naturalistic way, except for bulging eyes, flat,
protruding, and usually parallel lips, and stylized ears. The evolution of these
characteristics can be observed in a number of pottery sculptures at Ife, which, on
stylistic grounds, are considered to be relatively late.
Within the basic canon of Yoruba sculpture, many local styles can be distinguished,
down to the hand of the individual artist. Individual cults too have their own
characteristic requirements of form and ethnography. Staffs for Shango, the thunder
god, bear the symbol of a double ax. On his altars are placed carved mortars, for the
pounding of food in a mortar sounds like thunder; on the wall behind hangs his leather
bag, with a motif based on the extensive gesture of a Shango dancer. Because Shango
was king of Oyo, largest of the Yoruba kingdoms, his cult is mainly restricted to areas
that were once under Oyo domination.

More From Britannica

Yoruba twin figuresPair of Yoruba twin figures (ibeji), wood, from Efon Alaye, Nigeria.
Height 27.6 cm. The starch-resist dyed cloth is also Yoruba; in the Frank Willett
Collection.(more)
Typical of Ekiti is the Epa cult, which is connected with both the ancestors and
agriculture. The mask proper, roughly globular, has highly stylized features that vary
little; but the superstructure, which may be 4 feet (120 cm) or more in height, is often of
very great complexity—for example, a king on horseback, surrounded by two tiers of
attendant warriors and musicians. The most widely distributed cult is of twins—ibeji—
whose birth among the Yoruba is unusually frequent. Their effigies, made on the
instructions of the oracle, are among the most numerous of all classes of African
sculpture. Carved doors and house posts are found in shrines and palaces and in the
houses of important men. Fulfilling purely secular functions are bowls for kola nuts,
offered in welcoming a guest; ayo boards for the game, known also as wari, played with
seeds or pebbles in two rows of cuplike depressions; and stools, spoons, combs, and
heddle pulleys.
To the north is Esie, where about 800 sculptures in soapstone were found by the local
Yoruba population some centuries ago. Their origin is obscure; they are by no means
certainly Yoruba. The city of Owo, to the southeast of Yorubaland near the frontier with
the Edo-speaking peoples, developed an art style—indeed, a whole culture—that is a
blend of Yoruba and Benin traditions. Ivory carving is especially important, and wooden
heads of rams and of humans with rams’ horns are used on ancestral altars. Second-
burial effigies, life-size and naturalistically carved in wood, were made during the 20th
century but were developed from wickerwork forms such as are still used in Benin and
in Igbo towns once under Benin influence. Excavations in 1971 revealed a large number
of pottery sculptures that are clearly related to those of Ife but with some Benin features.
The site was dated by carbon-14 to about the 15th century ce.
Edo peoples

Head of an obaHead of an oba, brass sculpture by Edo brass artists in the court of the
kingdom of Benin (now Nigeria), 16th century; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York City.(more)
According to tradition, the kingdom of Benin was founded from Ife, whence, in the late
14th century, knowledge of brass casting may have been introduced into Benin City for
the manufacture of commemorative heads for royal altars. These heads have been
grouped in stylistic sequence from moderate naturalism through increasing stylization.
The brasses also include figures in the round, groups on a common base, and plaques.
The rectangular shape of the plaques, their narrative content, and in some cases their
attempt at perspective have been attributed to the influence of illustrations in books
carried by the Portuguese, who were in contact with Benin from the late 15th century.
The technique of brass casting, however, had been introduced at least a century earlier.
Bronze bars had been imported, probably from the interior, as early as the 13th century,
but these were made into bracelets in Benin City only by smithing and chasing
techniques, not by casting. There were certain limitations on the use of brass, and
also ivory. Cult objects (such as memorial beads) were made of wood when intended
for nonroyal purposes but of brass for the king. Regalia, if made for the king, were of
ivory but otherwise of brass. The regalia of the king and chiefs also included coral
beads and red cloth, the colour red signifying a mystical threat to the enemies of the
kingdom. Wood was used for staffs commemorating ancestors, and these were placed
on their altars. Pottery heads were made for shrines in the brass casters’ quarter, and
life-size groups of royal figures in mud are still made for the cult of Olokun, divinity of the
sea and of wealth.
Outside Benin City the Edo peoples live in villages that have many localized cults of
nearby topographical features and of founder heroes. The ekpo masquerade, occurring
to the south and east of Benin, is performed by the warrior age group in ceremonies to
purify the village ritually and to maintain health. At Ughoton, to the southwest of Benin, a
different type of mask is used, in the cult of the water spirit Igbile. Both the cult and the
sculptural style seem to have derived from the Ijo.
A number of bronze castings found in Benin have been tentatively classified as
the lower-Niger bronze industries. They include pieces from Tada and Jebba in the
region now inhabited by the Nupe people, who regard them as relics associated with
their own mythical ancestor, and other pieces from various parts of the delta of
the Niger River.
Ijo
The Niger delta is occupied by Ijo fishermen, whose masks for the cults of the water
spirits are made in the form of aquatic animals, especially the hippopotamus and
crocodile. The western Ijo use ejiri figures, in which the head of the household is
represented upon a highly schematic quadruped that is said to represent the guardian
spirit of the family. Similar objects are made by the Edo-speaking Urhobo, to the north
of the Ijo, where they are used in a cult of aggressiveness by the warriors. Among the
eastern Ijo, shrines for the water spirits have figures that are often large, though
frequently kept hidden. They also have masks, similar to those of the western Ijo, worn
by men of the Ekine society. In addition, there are shrines that contain sculptures for the
village heroes and ancestors. In some Kalabari communities, rectangular screens are
fashioned by carpentry into a low-relief frontal group in which
a commemorated ancestor is flanked by supporting figures—much like the king in Benin
plaques, by which the screens may have been inspired about two centuries ago. All Ijo
sculpture exhibits a four-square schematic style that contrasts starkly with the relative
naturalism of surrounding styles, such as those of Yorubaland or Benin.
Igbo
On both sides of the Niger, but mainly to the east, live the Igbo. Traditionally they have
lived in small and often isolated settlements scattered through the forest. Only on the
northern and western edges of the area, under influence from Igala and Benin, are
hereditary rulers found. In Igbo society there is strong social pressure toward individual
distinction, and men can move upward through successive grades by demonstrating
their achievements and their generosity. One of the traditional representations of this
was the ikenga, that part of oneself enabling personal achievement, with cult figures
representing the attributes of distinction.

leaded bronze ceremonial object, 9th century, Igbo UkwuLeaded bronze ceremonial
object, thought to have been the head of a staff, decorated with coloured beads of glass
and stone, 9th century, from Igbo Ukwu, Nigeria; in the Nigerian Museum, Lagos.
Height 16.8 cm.(more)
The lack of overall centralization among the Igbo-speaking peoples has
been conducive to the development of a great variety of art styles and cultural practices.
The earliest-known sculpture from Igboland is from the village of Igbo Ukwu, where the
grave of a man of distinction and a ritual store dating from the 9th century ce contained
both chased copper objects and elaborate castings of leaded bronze. The earliest
artistic castings from sub-Saharan Africa, these pieces consist of ritual vessels and
other ceremonial objects with intricate surface decoration, often small animals and
insects represented in the round.

maiden spirit maskMaiden spirit mask symbolizing beauty and peacefulness, painted
wood, southern Igbo Ekpe society, Nigeria; in the Nigerian Museum, Lagos. Height 21.3
cm.(more)
A very great variety of masks are found among the Igbo. The masks, of wood or fabric,
are employed in a variety of dramas: social satires, sacred rituals (for ancestors and
invocation of the gods), initiation, second burials, and public festivals—which now
include Christmas and Independence Day. Some masks appear at only one festival, but
the majority appear at many or all. Best known are those of the Northern Igbo Mmo
society, which represents the spirits of deceased maidens and their mothers with masks
symbolizing beauty. Among the Southern Igbo, the Ekpe society, introduced from the
Cross River area, uses contrasting masks to represent the maiden spirit and the
elephant spirit, the latter representing ugliness and aggression and the former
representing beauty and peacefulness. A similar contrast is found in their Okorosia
masks, which correspond to the Mmo of the Northern Igbo. The Eastern Igbo are best
known for masquerades associated with the Iko okochi harvest festival, in which the
forms of the masks are determined by tradition, though the content of the play varies
from year to year. Stock characters include Mbeke, the European; Mkpi, the he-goat;
and Mba, which appear in pairs, one representing a boy dressed as a girl mimicking the
behaviour of a girl, the other representing the girl being satirized.
Most impressive are the ijele masks of the Northern Igbo, which are 12 feet (366 cm)
high. Consisting of platforms 6 feet (183 cm) in diameter, supporting tiers of figures
made of coloured cloth and representing everyday scenes, they honour the dead to
ensure the continuity and well-being of the community.
Wooden figures are carved for ancestors of both sexes, varying from less than 1 to
more than 5 feet (less than 30 to more than 150 cm) in height. Those representing
founders of the village are kept in a central shrine and sometimes become patrons of
the market. A great many other decorative wooden objects are made, including musical
instruments, doors, stools, mirror frames, trays for offering kola nuts to guests, dolls,
and a variety of small figures used in divination. Shrines called mbari, which contain
elaborate tableaux of painted unfired earth, are made in honour of the earth spirit in
villages near Owerri in southern Nigeria. In Igbo communities to the west of the Niger,
elaborate pottery groups representing a man and his family are made for the yam cult.
There seems to be no tradition of pottery sculpture in other Igbo groups.
Ibibio
Among the oldest sculptures of tropical Africa are several hundred ancestor figures,
called ekpu, of the Ibibio coastal trade centre of Oron, some of which are thought to
date from the late 18th century. They are bearded figures 3 to 4 feet (90 to 120 cm) high
and are so individual as to suggest portraiture, despite their schematic style. Oron is
one group of Ibibio-speaking villages. As with the Igbo, Ibibio is not a single group but
several networks of independent communities, with local unity represented by secret
associations and their masquerades. The Ekpo society uses black masks, often of
naturalistic appearance and with movable jaws, to maintain social order and propitiate
the ancestors; some of these masks represent disease and deformity.
Ekoi
The Ekoi peoples (Anyang, Boki, Ejagham, Keaka, and Yako) are best known for their
large skin-covered masks, which have two or even three faces, and for their smaller
headpieces, which represent a head or an entire figure. The headpieces and masks
have metal teeth, inlaid eyes, and frequently pegs to represent hair, which, alternatively,
may be carved in elaborate coils. They are used by several masking associations.
Found in the northern Ekoi area, around Ikom, are circles of large stones (akwanshi)
from 1 to 6 feet (30 to 180 cm) high, carved in low relief to represent human figures.
They are thought to be no earlier than the 16th century.
Fulani
The Fulani are in origin nomadic pastoralists who range from Senegal to the Cameroon
grasslands. They are particularly known for their body decoration (see below Personal
decoration) and for their engraved milk gourds. In addition, in Mali settled groups of
Fulani artists work as goldsmiths, leatherworkers, blacksmiths, weavers, and potters.