IDNO

P.71459.GIJ

Description

An Alose (tutelary deity) standing on a rock plinth inside a shrine. The Alose wooden sculpture has an elaborately decorated horned headdress painted in different colours with different figures- a snake? The face is white but accentuated with black markings outlining the eyes, nose, and mouth with painted black designs (uli?) on the cheek. The figure is wearing a harlequin-like outfit in various colours. The figure is holding a staff in one hand and a mirror? in the other. In front of the figure are other carved objects and behind are pieces of raffia. The figure is housed under a corrugated iron roof supported by wooden beams.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; ?South Eastern Nigeria; Obioma

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Abaja

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.71458.GIJ to P.71462.GIJ were wrapped in paper, now numbered C302/9/.

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. Alusi (21st image).

Context: Jones writes that “ cult figures of tutelary deities were made principally among the Northern and Isuama Ibo.”(Jones, 1989, p. 37).

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 lik

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); Jones, G.I. 1989, Ibo Art (Shire)

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