Description (Labels & Markings)
Thomas label adhered to base of staff reads: '2239 | 293 / Stave (osun), highly carved.'
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Physical description)
Stave (Osun) with elaborate puzzle-carving. Main shaft is carved in shape of a snake, the whole thing topped with a human head.
Labelled 'Thomas Colln, S. Nigeria 1910-13, 2239.293'
Event Date
Author: maa

Context (Related Documents)
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: maa

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

Event Date 2/8/2018
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Physical description)
Wooden staff shaped like a snake swallowing a human figure. The body of the human figure is a rattle and has been carved with geometric patterns. The snake's body and head is also carved with patterns.
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.2020.4960 | Remedial
Event Date 23/11/2020
Author: Stefanie Mueller

Description (Physical description)
Osun. Wooden staff shaped like a snake swallowing a human figure. The body of the human figure is a rattle and has been carved with geometric patterns. The snake's body and head are also carved with cross-hatched squares.
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