IDNO

P.71424.GIJ

Description

A carved wooden Alose figure. The figure is standing; the face of the figure is humanised and the top of the head is a curved crest with striations, defined brow lines, slit eyes, pointed nose, and mouth with scarification marks in a crescent design near the ears. The neck of the figure is thick and elongated, the torso is elaborately decorated with raised scarification marks in the centre of the chest and on the side of the abdomen. The arms are bent and slightly away from the body, the knees are slightly bent. There is a leather necklace around the figure and pieces of cloth at the bottom of its feet. In the background is a mud wall of a house and three people. One woman is pregnant and wearing a printed wrapper around her waist. Behind the figure are pots and calabashes.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; South Eastern Nigeria; Onitsha province; Nri Awka

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Nri Akwa

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.71400.GIJ to P.71498.GIJ were kept in box 5, now numbered C302/.
P.71424 to P.71438 were found wrapped in paper, now numbered C302/6/.

Publication: Same image published on John McCall’s G.I. Jones website with the following information: [Source: www.siu.edu/~anthro/mccall/jones/, AF ]
1. Index to Igbo music, shrines, architecture and other cultural artifacts
2. Alusi or Arunsi (shrines)
3. One of a group of Alusi figures Nri-Awka Igbo (18th image).

Context: In relation to the Alusi figures, Cole and Aniakor write that, “the dead are conceived as part of the everyday world, and just as clearly, their presence can hold a positive or negative valence for the living; exactly the same is true of the tutelary deities, alusi. These forces, however, are neither personal (chi or ancestors) nor universal (Chineke, Chukwu). Rather, they are in part specific, usually tangible phenomena such as: Earth, the Niger or Imo river, Eke, Afo, Orie/Oye, or Nkwo market, an extraordinary tree, a binding oath at a particular shrine, or the canyon of erosion in Agulu. The preeminence of Ala/Ani does not eclipse the vitality of these other deities, especially those associated with water, or of Amadioha, god of thunder and lightening and, by extension, rain. These anthropomorphic male and female deities have priests and often elaborate cult apparatus, symbolic works of art, and finely decorated compounds. Each has general and specific powers, and although their priesthoods may be held by certain lineages, the more commanding of these cults have constituencies cutting across lines of kinship and stressing communal worship. Such tutelary deities are close to people, fast-acting (for good or ill), and often capricious, thus requiring frequent attention and sacrifice. ...(Cole and Aniakor, 1984, p.16).

Context: Jones also writes about the carved wooden Aluse figures, he notes that, “A statue was associated for the most part with a religious or magical cult. The statue represented, stood for, a deity or spirit and it did not really matter what the object looked like provided the symbolism was accepted by the participants it the ritual”. (Jones, 1984, p.54)

Bibliographical Reference: Cole, H. & C. Aniakor, 1984. Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos (Museum of Cultural History, University of California)Jones, G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press)

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 12/11/2007]