IDNO

P.61238.GIJ

Description

Object documentation photograph of a large bronze bowl. It is placed upside down. The surface of the bowl is incised and decorated with raised dots and concentric circles. There is a handle on one side. The other side of the bowl is damaged with a piece missing.

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.164, Plate A, with the caption, “Large bronze bowl (No. 1 in the description) with 1ft ruler. It is also described in the list of objects as:
1. Large round, shallow bowl (diameter 1’41/2”, depth 7”), with a single handle and a triangular piece broken out of the bowl on the opposite side to the handle. This piece is missing. Decorated on the outside with bands of raised dots and concentric circles. (p.165)

Context:
Thurstan Shaw provides a very detailed account of the Igbo Ukwu excavations he carried out in his book, Unearthing
Igbo-Ukwu. He details 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]