IDNO

P.73772.GIJ

Description

Two ornamental water pots in Northern Ika Ibodrying in the sun before firing. One pot is on its side and shows a rounded base and incised decorations around the shoulder and neck of the pot. A curved, braided or rope like design adorns the pot. The second pot is upright with similar decorative designs with incised markings around the shoulder and a braided/rope-like pattern around the neck and shoulder. The pots are placed on the earth floor and in the background is a threshold of a door.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; Southeast Nigeria

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; North 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/.

Publication: Jones, 1989, p. 20, Figure 12 with the caption, “Ornamental water pots, Northern Ika Ibo, drying in the sun before firing.”

Publication: On the GI Jones website, www.siu.edu/~anthro/mccall/jones/, under,
1. Index to Ika Igbo (Western Igbo)
2. Decorated pots North Ika (9th image).

Context: Jones writes that, “Pottery was an exclusively female craft dispersed over most of Ibo country wherever there was suitable clay and a local demand for it. There were, however, two important centres whose superior wares had a wider distribution, Inyi in Nr-Awka area and Ishaigo on the Eastern Railway and connected by road to the Cross River. Pots were made predominantly by the coil method and their quality and range of forms were much the same as in other parts of Nigeria. They were mainly water pots, bowls and platters, ant hey were either left plain, burnished, decorated with incised lines and circles or given an overall indented pattern with rollers. Some, however, were made for display in spirit shrines or meeting houses; these were modelled with raised curvilinear bands, bosses and ornamental handles.” (Jones, 1989, p.21)

Context: Cole and Aniakor provide detailed information about the historical and ritual connotations of pottery making in Eastern Nigeria. They depict several illustrations to show the decorative designs and types of pots that were made. They discuss the wide range of pots collected by Jeffery in the 1930s now in the Wellcome Collection. “These vessels include palm wine and water bottles of the same basic shapes yet with a variety of incised, “combed,” and relief decorations on the shoulders and bodies. Richly textured and markedly sophisticated, these elegant, curved overall patterns are recent ones relating most closely to major Igbo-Ukwu vessels. Stirrup-handled, double spouted vessels (with one “false” spout), double-bowls, and pedestal jars with similar reliefs are even more sculptural that the bottles and undoutbly served ritual purposes. Ceremonial vessels found in shrines are commonly more elaborate than strictly practical wares, in keeping with the Igbo notion that best and finest of everything should serve the gods and ancestors. Fine pottery is still being made in Inyi, but in recent years a decline in the sophistication and complexity of surface patterning is observable (Cole and Aniakor, 1984, p79)

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

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 6/2/2008]