IDNO

P.171779.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. [Description from record P.170783.GIJ, PB 14/11/2024]

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.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).