Description (Physical description)
Carved mahogany panel of typical Yoruba work. Panel of 5 scenes, ceremonial.
Event Date 1947
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Related Documents)
Carved by an old man (now dead), court carver of the Ologudo of Iddo, Orida Province. Bought from Mr W.G. Wormal, ex D.C. Nigeria. See letter Bramholtz, 9/10/46.
'Added to catalogue card in a different hand "The information about authorship came from W. G. Wormal, late DO in Ekiti and is probably wrong. The carver is almost certainly Areogun of Osi. (W.B.Fagg, based on personal investigation)”
Event Date 1/5/2000
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Loan (Exhibition)
Tate Britain, London, 17/11/2015 to 18/04/2016, Artist & Empire
Event Date 17/11/2015
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Display)
Exhibited: On loan to Tate Britain, for 'Artist & Empire', 23 November 2015 to 10 April 2016.
Event Date 23/11/2015
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2015.1596 | Remedial
Event Date 16/6/2015
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2015.1598 | Remedial
Event Date 16/6/2015
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2015.1598 | Remedial
Event Date 18/10/2022
Author: Lucie Carreau (admin)

Description (Physical description)
Wooden panel carved with 5 fields depicting Yoruba people engaged in daily life, depicting from top to bottom:
1- A woman carrying a basket on her head flanked by two keeling women, one holding a baby and the other a lidded gourd
A kneeling woman holding a lidded gourd, making an offering, flanked by two men, one holding an umbrella with a second man smoking a large pipe.
2- A male figure, probably a chief, seated on an aspim chair with three male attendants, one holding a fan and another an umbrella. the third figure drinks from a cup and a keeling woman makes an offering to the seated figure,
3- A male figure holding a rifle and an second male figure with a curving cap, possibly representing Eshu the trickster god, holding a bow and with an arrow/spear in his mouth
4A male figure, also probably a chief, riding a bicycle (or motorcycle) with a male attendant on each side., hoding a rifle and spear respectively

Four tapered sections cut to fit a Western style hinge with two on each the side of the panel. These align with the areas on A and suggests they were part of a hinged screen and that a third or further section is missing. These may be the panels now in the British Museum

White surface accretions in places and nail projecting in to the panel from from base, which holds a thin wooden piece of wood to the base. Possibly used to give the board an even base and to march the height of the other panel
Event Date 19/10/2022
Author: rachel hand

Context (Production / use)
Attributed to Dada Areogun/Arowogun, a.k.a Areogun of Osi-Ilorin (c.1880- 1954). From the town of Osi Ilorin, in the Northern Ekiti region in the 1880s, he was known by his praise name Arowogun. This refered to his occupation and is a short form of Areogun-yanna-"one who gets money with the tools of Ogun [patron saint of fblacksmiths, carvers and soldiers] and spends it liberally."

Areogun was apprenticed to Bamagbose (d. 1920), one of the ancient master carvers and became the most famous of the Yoruba Osi masters. He was a prolific carver of doors, house posts, bowls and masks seen in shrines and chiefs' houses around Osi-Ilorin, in southwest Nigeria. His distinctive style incorporated motifs drawn from modern life amd this panel is typical of Areogun's distinctive style, including multiple low-relief figures arranged in an orderly, tight composition. The layering of horizontal bands to display the actions of a wide variety of people is common to his work. As with Olowe of Ise, Areogun began to sign his work relatively late, probably in the early 1920s.
Event Date 9/2/2022
Author: rachel hand