figure
- Museum number
- Af1984,19.680
- Description
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Ram's head, figure carved in wood.
- Production date
- 1910 (before)
- Dimensions
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Height: 51 centimetres
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Width: 29 centimetres
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Depth: 34 centimetres
- Curator's comments
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Illustrated and discussed by William Fagg (in Fagg & Pemberton, 'Yoruba sculpture of West Africa', 1982, p.23, where it is described as a 'magnificent head used in the chiefly ancestor cult at Owo', which was 'given to Maurice Cockin by the Olowo of Owo more than forty years ago'. He added that its 'bounding forcefulness could never have been imagined at Benin.' Fagg's 1982 text had been first published in French in 1951, so the date of Olowo's gift must have been ca.1910.
On p.48 of the same book, Fagg adds the information that this type of head is 'used in the chiefly ancestor cult, and performs the same function as the bronze heads found on the ancestral altars of the Oba of Benin in 1897, and the wood heads still to be seen on the altars of some of the lesser Bini chiefs – that is, they function as a kind of receptacle into which the spirit of the ancestor can be summoned during rites in his honour. Like the wooden heads at Benin, these Owo heads are all provided at the back with a vertical socket for a short stick, which my be intended to be rattled when summoning the spirit, or merely as a support for a small elephant tusk.'
See also Af1971,31.3 and 4, and Drewal & Pemberton, 'Yoruba, nine centuries of African art and thought', New York 1989, p.112). This head (Af1984,19.680) is similar to the one illustrated on p.98.
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Osanmasinmi (Ram’s Head Altarpiece) are predominantly found in the Owo region of Yorubaland. Carved ram’s heads or human heads with horns adorn ancestral altars and shrines of high ranking officials and leaders. The shrines serve as places where those living can communicate with deceased ancestors in elaborate rites during the yam harvests. Osanmasinmi takes the form of rams because of the aggressiveness with which they are known to protect their families, as well as their vigilance and strength.
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This has been identified by Dr Robin Poynor (Center for African Studies, University of Florida) as an osanmasinmi. Mrs. Barclay showed it to Dr Poynor in 1973 as he was returning from field research in Owo.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1984
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1984,19.680