IDNO

P.171753.GIJ

Description

A clay sculpture of a mother figure sitting on a plinth on the outer wall of an Mbari house. The figure is wearing a striped short-sleeved shirt and white shorts and shoes. She has black parted hair and oval-shaped earrings, with a cross figurine on her upper chest. She holds a child in her arms, who is wearing a conical hat and a necklet with a cross figurine. Behind the figures is a stepped buttress, painted with geometric patterns. To the right of the image is a seated male figure wearing a cardigan and a tie, shorts and shoes and smoking a pipe. In the background are the painted doors of the inner room of the house. [Description from record P.170716.GIJ, PB 14/11/2024]

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; Southeast Nigeria; Imo State; Oratta; Umowa

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.171730.GIJ - P.171808.GIJ were located together in an 'University of Camridge' envelope, now numbered C841/.

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).

Bibliographical Reference: H.M. Cole describes Mbari houses and sculptures in Cole H.M., 1982. Mbari: Art and Life among the Owerri Igbo, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).