IDNO

P.61250.GIJ

Description

A documentation photograph of a six smaller bronze bowls from Igbo-Ukwu. The bowls are cresentic and are decorated with alternating bands of raised dots and spirals running the length of the bowl. Each bowl has a single handle.

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/.

Context: Jones describes the six bowls in his 1939 article. He writes, “Six small elliptical and deep bowls each with a handle on one side and a raised ornametation on the other side, some of these ornamentations ending in small rings indicating that something was attached to them. They are all ornamented on the outside with alternate bands of raised dots, and of concentric circles. The concentric circles appear to have been applied to the bowls after they were cast, and some of them have dropped accidentally into the inside of the bowls and stuck there (1939, p.165)

Context: Thurstan Shaw provides a very detailed account of the Ibo Ukwu excavations he carried out in his book, Unearthing Igbo-Ukwu. He details the history of the site and the methodical approach in his field work. He notes that in 1939 a man was digging in his compound and found a decorated bronze bowl. The 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 Ibo to distinguish it from other places called ‘Ibo’.

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 Ibo Uwku notes that, “ It is impossible at present to date these Ibo 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. 1970. Igbo-Ukwu: An Account of Archaeological Discoveries in Eastern Nigeria, London.
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 29/1/2008]