Description (Labels & Markings)
Thomas label adhered to base reads: '2242 | 296 / Stave (ovia), highly carved.'
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card 2 reads: 'Stave (Ovia) with elaborate puzzle-carving and human figure in ceremonial costume, holding two sticks
Labelled 'Thomas Colln, S. Nigeria 1910-13, 2242.296''
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

Context (Amendments / updates)
Two catalogue cards exist for this record - see description
Event Date
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card 1 notes: Uxurhe-quia. A carved staff used in the worship of Ovia, an Edo river goddess. The figure near the top represents a masked dancer playing the part of an Ovia spirit. He wears a parrot-feather headdress, has a thick net over his face and palm-fronds cover his body. In his hands are two small sticks with which he beats out the rhythm of the Ovia dances.

Event Date
Author: maa

Context (Production / use)
Catalogue card 1 reads: 'Uxurhe-quia. A carved staff used in the worship of Ovia, an Edo river goddess. The figure near the top represents a masked dancer playing the part of an Ovia spirit (erioi Quia [see catalogue card for ?phonetic spelling]) - ie a past worshipper of Ovia and therefore an ancestor of the present worshippers. He wears a parrot-feather headdress, has a thick net over his face and palm-fronds cover his body. In his hands are two small sticks with which he beats out the rhythm of the Ovia dances.
The staff is very closely associated with the power spirit of Ovia. No woman must see it except in the presence of masked Ovia dancers. Sacrifices to Ovia are made over it and it is layed on the ground and the [?] clapper [word unclear] rattled to emphasise curses and prayers. This is a rather poor example. Those in use today are generally very much larger and more elaborately carved.'

Event Date
Author: rachel hand

Description (Labels & Markings)
'296' written in pencil on base
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

Context (Amendments / updates)
See E 1910.118 and E 1913.3 records for further details about the Thomas Collection from Nigeria. [T.Cotterill]
Event Date 7/5/2001
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Physical description)
Wooden staff with decorated rattle section at middle and a horned, masquerade figure at top. The very top of the staff is thistle shaped, with a large decorated ball and inverted triangle on top. The figure is wearing a headdress of a similar form.
Event Date 2/8/2018
Author: Katrina Dring

Context (Amendments / updates)
Record updated as part of the Museum Affordances project 2018-2020

Event Date 2/8/2018
Author: Katrina Dring

Loan (Exhibition)
Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, 14/10/2020 to 19/12/2020, [Re:]Entanglements
Event Date 14/10/2020
Author: Katrina Dring

Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2020.4955 | Remedial
Event Date 23/11/2020
Author: Stefanie Mueller

Description (Physical description)
Uxurhe-quia. A carved staff used in the worship of Ovia, an Edo river goddess. The figure near the top represents a masked dancer playing the part of an Ovia spirit. He wears a parrot-feather headdress, has a thick net over his face and palm-fronds cover his body. In his hands are two small sticks with which he beats out the rhythm of the Ovia dances. There is a geometrically carved rattle in the middle section of the stick, below which the staff is waisted. The lower end is carved with high-relief lozenges.
Event Date 20/10/2022
Author: Lily Stancliffe

Context (Display)
On display in the Ukhure staff case in [Re:]Entanglements: Colonial collections in decolonial times, KLS Gallery, MAA, 22 June 2021 – 20 April 2022.

The text read:
'Ukhurhe
When an Edo man dies and passes into the world of the ancestors, his eldest son commissions an ukhurhe rattle staff in his honour and places it on the family altar. Such staffs are also used by community cults associated with particular deities.
During the 1909-10 survey of Edo-speaking communities, Northcote Thomas commissioned the Eholo N’Igbesamwan – the head of Benin’s wood and ivory carvers’ guild – to make 39 staffs featuring representations of the various Edo deities. He paid £25 for the staffs, a considerable sum, equivalent to over £3,000 today.
This story challenges the assumption that ethnographic museum collections were stolen or forcibly removed from their cultural contexts. The situation was more complex and ambiguous.
We, too, commissioned an ukhurhe staff to be made by a traditional carver in Benin City. The artist, Felix Ekhator, carved a representation of the anthropologist at the top. Some denounce Thomas as a colonialist, others celebrate his efforts to document African traditional culture. Is he an ancestor worthy of commemoration?
CAPTION
Names of the Edo deities (ebo) represented on the ukhurhe staffs in the display as recorded by Northcote Thomas. The staff in the centre of the display was carved by traditional carver Felix Ekhator for this exhibition. It features a representation of Northcote Thomas at the top.
LINK
https://re-entanglements.net/ukhurhe'

Event Date 3/5/2022
Author: Flo Sutton