Pair of Ritual Staffs (ẹdan Ògbóni) (1800s): Art, History and Details

Pair of Ritual Staffs (ẹdan Ògbóni) (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The chain connecting these two figures allows them to be worn in public by a member of the Ògbóni or Òṣùgbó association as authority emblems. The male on the right gives the association’s typical salute by clasping his left fist on the right one, while the female on the left holds her breasts as a sign of welcome and generosity. The use of copper alloy and iron expresses Ògbóni/Òṣùgbó's concerns with longevity and durability. Long iron spikes would have originally protruded from each figure's base.

Object facts

• Title: Pair of Ritual Staffs (ẹdan Ògbóni)
• Date: 1800s
• Culture: Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Copper alloy and iron
• Dimensions: Overall: 15 cm (5 7/8 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1996.402

Collection credit

Gift of Drs. James, Gladys, Jay, Jeffrey, and Jamie Strain

Further reading listed by the museum

• "CMA Annual Report, 1996" (Cleveland, CMA, 1997) listed p. 46

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.