Yorùbá and Awori
Dance Staff for Shango (Ose Shango)
Yoruba, 1867-1899
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Wood, pigment, 18 7/8 x 5 1/8 x 2 15/16 in. (48 x 13 x 7.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Bernice Barth, Los Angeles
Object Number
1991.123
The Yoruba (and Fon) recognize more than 400 divinities. Two of the most important are honored here. The wooden staff would have been carried in public rituals held to praise and appease Shango, God of Thunder and Lightning. Commissioned by a senior priest of Shango, the figure depicts a devotee of the god bearing Shango's customary double-edged flame-throwing axe. The rare wooden fan, carved from a single piece of wood, was made for a devotee of Oshun, Goddess of Love. Intended for an altar and carved to resemble an accordion at its fullest extension, the fan was likely based on Asian or European models. Coolness of character, a much admired social trait, is conveyed in the facial expressions of both figures. Neither shows signs of duress despite the heavy loads they bear. While the coolness of the Shango devotee offsets the fiery temper of her lord, that of Oshun reflects the dignity and refinement of the Goddess herself.
New Arrivals: Gifts of Art for a New Century
Afro-Atlantic Histories
Frederick John Lamp, "See the Music Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art." New York: Prestel, 2003, p.155, ill.
Thompson, Robert F., "Black gods and kings: Yoruba art at UCLA," Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976, c1971, ch. 3&12.
