IDNO

P.73742.GIJ

Description

A documentation photograph of a wooden Ivhri cult figure. The sculpture consists of a man standing with a four legged animal. The man is wearing a black hat and holding a machete in one hand and small figure in the other. The face of the man consists of a dark linear line on the forehead to the nose, black triangular shaped eyes and painted white inside, nose and mouth with white teeth. The figure is wearing a necklace and holding a machete painted white and a small doll like figure. The animal is stylised, with two white pointed markings, horizontal mouth with serrated teeth, legs and toes painted white on a rounded base.

Place

W Africa; Europe British Isles; Nigeria; United Kingdom; England; London; southern Nigeria; near Onitsha; Niger River; ?Asaba

Cultural Affliation

Igbo (S.Ika)

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.73718.GIJ to P.73813.GIJ were kept in box 16, now numbered C334/.
P.73722.GIJ to P.73754.GIJ were found wrapped in paper, now numbered C334/1/.

Context: Jones discusses the Ivhri (Ifiri) cult figures and their unusual style. “ A unique specific style of figure carving within the Central Ijo local style was that of the Ivhri cult figures. These represented a spirit analogous to the Ibo Ikenga but more closely associated with the good fortune and wealth and the beneficent control of the person’s aggressive impulses. The cult, which was one that was followed by wealthy and successful men, was confined to Southern Edo and Ijo communities in the extreme south-east of the Urhobo/Isoko division and extended as far up the Niger as the state of Aboh. The cult was an Urhobo/Isoko one, the style was Central Ijo. The Ivhri was represented as a figure standing on the back of a four legged beast with open tusk-carrying jaws suggestive of a hippopotamus. The standing figure was supported by a number of smaller figures. Some carried the Central Ijo vertical scar on their foreheads, others the Southern Edo and Western Ibo ‘tribal marks’. As the cult travelled northward the style changed from Central Ijo to Lower Niger (Jones, 1984, p.162).”

Bibliographical Reference: 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 5/2/2008]