Personal shrines, known as ifiri in Ijo culture, are widespread in southern Nigeria. Such sculptures, dedicated to an individual's power, skill, and aggressiveness, are placed in screenlike fashion, accompanied by freestanding figures, on private altars. Fierce animal imagery is often emphasized, as in the sharp fangs and powerful open jaws of the beast shown here, which fuses elephant and leopard traits. Such attributes relate to the pursuit of warfare and commerce by Ijo men. The human figure seated above the animal represents the shrine's owner holding a cup for pouring libations and a fan, a symbol of his wealth and status.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Shrine (Iphri)
Date:19th century
Geography:Nigeria, Niger Delta region
Culture:Ijo peoples
Medium:Wood, pigment
Dimensions:H. 25 7/16 x W. 9 3/4 x D. 10 1/8 in. (64.6 x 24.8 x 25.7 cm)
Classification:Wood-Sculpture
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Matthew T. Mellon Foundation Gift, 1960
Accession Number:1978.412.404
Ekuri Expedition, collected 1897; Dr. R. Allman, Principal Medical Officer, Southern Nigeria (1891-1905); (Sotheby's, New York, June 27, 1960, no. 118); The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1960–1978
Museum of Primitive Art. "The World of Primitive Art," July 12, 1966–September 11, 1966.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "African Sculpture," January 22, 1970–March 1, 1970.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. "African Sculpture," March 21, 1970–April 26, 1970.
Brooklyn Museum. "African Sculpture," May 16, 1970–June 21, 1970.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sculpture of Black Africa: Nigeria & Cameroon," June 23, 1971–March 19, 1972.
Museum of Primitive Art. Masterpieces in the Museum of Primitive Art: Africa, Oceania, North America, Mexico, Central to South America, Peru. Handbook series. New York, NY: Museum of Primitive Art, 1965, no. 22.
Newton, Douglas. Masterpieces of Primitive Art: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978, p. 186.
Newton, Douglas, Julie Jones, and Kate Ezra. The Pacific Islands, Africa, and the Americas: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987, p. 90.
Anderson, Martha G., and Philip M. Peek, eds. Ways of the Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 2002, p. 120, fig. D. 1.
Foss Perkins and Susan, ed. Where Gods and Mortals Meet: Continuity and Renewal in Urhobo Art.The Museum for African Art, New York, April 8, 2004–August 16, 2004. Ghent: Snoeck Publishers, 2004, p. 71, no. 41.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
