IDNO

P.73810.GIJ

Description

Okike, a shrine for the household, photographed in Ogume village. The shrine consists of rectangular wooden “trough” and inside is a carving of a seated human figure, and in front of the figure is a small drum? decorated with teeth and next to it is a rounded peg-like object. Another shrine is next to the Okike, possibly an Ikenga with two prominent horns.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; Southeast Nigeria

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically 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.73718.GIJ to P.73813.GIJ were kept in box 16, now numbered C334/.

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 Ika Igbo (Western Igbo)
2. Okike, Ikenga and other shrines North Ika (15th image).

Publication: Same image in Jones, 1989, Figure, 2, with the caption Okike.

Context: Jones visited Ogume in 1937 and he describes his visit and the material culture that he saw. He notes that Ogume is a community in the Niger Delta and the people speak the Ukwani dialect of Ika Igbo. “Ogume had the usual Ika Igbo household deities and shrines. Ikenga were carved in the shape of a stool with two flat horns on the seat (as depicted in this photograph); one also displayed the figure of a lizard. Ofo were spoon shaped and were mainly of wood, but some were of brass - roughly the same size and shape but with the heads, leg, and other human attributes added. There was said to be a brass smith named Oguguwa living in the Ogbe Ore quarter who could make them. There was also a carver called Ufere who lived in the Utue quarter who could carve the wooden Ofo as well as Okike, Amara, Nwammuo, and the headpieces for masquerades. Okike were seated human figures that were thirty to sixty centimetres high that appeared in household shrines and Amara were small decorated paddles ending in a human head. (Jones, 1989, p.65).

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I. 1989. “A Visit to Ogume” African Arts, XXII:3, pp.64-67.

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 26/2/2008]