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The Present State of Art Historical Research in Nigeria: Problems and Possibilities1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Babatunde Lawal
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Extract

This paper reviews the present state of art historical research in Nigeria with a view to clearing the ground for a more accurate interpretation of the evidence. The ancient arts of Benin, Ife, Nok, Owo, Nupe and Igbo-Ukwu are discussed, among others, and suggestions offered that might shed more light on some of the problems created by the paucity of art historical data.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , April 1977 , pp. 193 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

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109 Illustrated in Eccles, , ‘Nupe Bronzes’, 18.Google Scholar

110 Elsewhere (Lawal, B., ‘Yoruba Sango Sculpture in Historical Retrospect’. Unpubl. Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1970, 140–65Google Scholar), I have tried to link this cult with the ancient kingdom of Old Oyo where the ram was sacred to Sango, the Yoruba god of thunder and lightning. For in the heyday of the Old Oyo Empire, the Sango cult was used as a political weapon: a good number of Old Oyo governors resident in the vassal states were priests of the cult; and when they were not, they had Sango priests in their entourage.

111 The task of using the ram symbolism as a guide is rendered all the more difficult by the fact that at Owo and Benin wooden ram heads are placed on ancestral altars while smaller ones in the bronze and ivory are stitched to the ceremonial dresses of some chiefs. Nevertheless, a thorough investigation of the origin and significance of the ram symbolism at Benin and Owo is likely to have some implications for the representation of the animal on the Nupe ‘Gara’ figure, and on many of the so-called ‘Lower Niger Bronzes’ as well. For a preliminary study of the ram symbolism among the Oyo Yoruba, see Lawal, B., ‘Yoruba-Sango Ram Symbolism: From Ancient Sahara or Dynastic Egypt?’ in African Images: Essays in African Iconology, eds. McCall, D. F. and Bay, E. G. (New York and London, 1975), 225–51.Google Scholar

112 Illustrated in Willett, , Ife in the History, pl. 93.Google Scholar

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116 Although the Maltese cross appears only on the robe of the Nupe ‘Gara’ figure, it is certainly more than a mere decoration. Among the Ashanti, for instance, this type of cross is called Musuyidie (something which removes evil). According to Rattray, a cloth with Maltese cross design was placed beside the sleeping couch of the Ashantene who, on waking up in the morning, would step on the cloth three times (Rattray, R. S., Religion and Art in Ashanti (Oxford, 1923), 226, n. 149Google Scholar). It is possible, therefore, that the Maltese cross pattern on the Nupe ‘Gara’ figure had a talismanic function, although the cross pendant given by the ‘Ogane’ to royal messengers from Benin is said to accord them some privileges.

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130 Meyerowitz, , ‘Four Pre-Portuguese Bronze Castings’ 131Google Scholar. However, this need not imply that all ram representations in Benin once belonged to the Sango cult; and it must also be noted that the Benin thunder god is called Ogiuwu (king of death), but his historical relationship with Sango cannot yet be ascertained.

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