IDNO

P.61236.GIJ

Description

A documentation photograph of two bronze objects with a six inch ruler used for scale.

Place

W Africa; ?Nigeria; Igbu Uku

Cultural Affliation

Igbo (Ibo)

Named Person

Photographer

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Collector / Expedition

Date

circa 1930 - 1939

Collection Name

Jones Collection

Source

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.61128.GIJ to P.61278.GIJ were kept in box 13, now numbered C294/.

Publication: Same image in Jones, 1939, p.167, Plate H, with the caption, “Bronze ornament of entwined snakes.

XIV A hollow spiral (6.5”x3.7”) formed of two entwined snake’s bodies ending in heads at each end. Ornamented with applied rows of dots and of models of fruits, beetle, flies, birds, grasshoppersand human heads with diagonal scarring on the foreheads. Possibly this object and XV and XVI were used as ornaments to fit on to a staff.”

Contex: Thurstan Shaw provides a very detailed account of the Igbo Ukwu excavations he carried out in his book, Unearthing Igbo-Ukwu. He det ails the history of the site and the methodican approach in his field work. He notes that in 1939 a man was digging in his compound and found a decorated bronze bowl.He continued to dig and found a variety of other bronzes. A district officer heard about the bronzes and realised their archaeological importance and bought them. He presented the whole collection to the Department of Antiquities..the full name of the town is ‘Igbo-Ukwu’ Great Igbo to distinquish it from other places called ‘Igbo’.

One interesting thing about the bronzes found at Igbo-Ukwu was that their style and decoration were quite unlike the well-known bronzes of Benin and Ife. Who made them? Had they been made under the influence of Benin? And how long ago? The present people of Igbo-Ukwu had no idea they were there, but it was suggested that they could not be very old because some of the cloth was preserved with them. “

Context: Jones who was a District Officer at the time of the initial discovery of the bronzes at Igbo Uwku notes that, “ It is impossible at present to date these Igbo bronzes. They are unlike any other bronze work from S. Nigeria or the Gold Coast. Their workmanship is excellent and they are in a very fair state of preservation”. (Jones, 1939, p. 165).

Bibliographical Reference:
Shaw, T. 1977 Unearthing Igbo-Ukwu. (Oxford University Press Ibadan)
Jones, G.I. 1939. “Ibo Bronzes from the Awka Division” Nigerian Field, Vol. VIII, no.4, pp.164-167)

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 28/1/2008]