IDNO

P.170768.GIJ

Description

A small house dedicated to the contributor to an Mbari house. The house has a pitched corrugated roof with a veranda under a thatched raffia canopy supported by posts. The house has an open front with an alcove containing a tableau of seated clay sculptures in an alcove of an Mbari house, representing the contributor to the building of the Mbari, his wife and child. He wears a sun helmet, short-sleeved shirt, bow tie, shorts, long socks and shoes, and holds a cup in his right hand. She has an elaborate coiffure, uli marks on her neck and body, and has her child sitting on her left thigh. She holds a white staff?, or possibly a pestle?, in her right hand. The walls of the alcove are painted with geometric patterns. [PB 14/03/2024]

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; Southeast Nigeria; Owerri North; Imo; Ulakwo town

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Oratta Ibo

Named Person

Photographer

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Collector / Expedition

Date

1936

Collection Name

Jones Collection

Source

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.170715.GIJ - P.170801.GIJ were located in an Ilford paper box, now numbered C762/.

P.170755.GIJ - P.170771.GIJ were located in a paper folder, now numbered C762/4, and are a sequence of images of the same Mbari house.

Bibliographical Reference: G.I. Jones describes Mbari sculptures on pp. 82-92 and Mbari house architecture on p. 104 in Jones G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria. (Cambridge: CUP). [PB 05/03/2024]