IDNO

P.170783.GIJ

Description

The side gallery of an Mbari house, containing clay sculptures. In the foreground a leopard which is attacking from behind a figure of Okpanku, the ape spirit. In the background is a sculpture of a blacksmith, a sculpture of his attendant with bellows, and a ladder on which two creatures are climbing. The gallery is set under a thatched raffia roof, with a gable end to the left and a pitched roof to the right. [PB 15/03/2024]

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; Southeast Nigeria; Imo state; Owerri; Ngor; Umundoche

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.170772.GIJ - P.170801.GIJ were located in a paper folder, now numbered C762/5, 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]