H x W x D: 22 x 11 x 1.5 cm (8 11/16 x 4 5/16 x 9/16 in.)
Type:
Sculpture
Geography:
Owo, Nigeria
Date:
Late 19th century
Label Text:
The udamalore is a ceremonial sword worn by the Olowo, ruler of Owo, and his high-ranking chiefs. It shows the wearer is considered well born, mature, powerful and influential, a person who is like the elephant. This fragment is from the tip of the sword blade and portrayed a chiefly figure crowned with a coral openwork cap holding a sword. The cap originally had a bird, the emblem of spiritual powers, projecting from its side.
Description:
Ivory fragment of a sword with a male figue holding an ax or a large sword in his proper right hand, upraised. His proper left lower arm and hand are broken. There is a carved skirt and knife at the waist, a hairdo or hat with a curved piece on top with a hole. The torso has carved lines and the face has cheek scarification. Warm golden and reddish colour of ivory.
Exhibition History:
Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 4, 2017-ongoing
African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 15, 2007-March 31, 2009
African Ivories. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 26, 1984-December 30, 1984
For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1981
Sculpture of Black Africa: The Paul Tishman Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 16, 1968-January 5, 1969; The High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, August 31-November 1, 1970; University of Texas College of Fine Arts, Austin; City Art Museum, St. Louis, August 20-October 17, 1971; Des Moines Art Center; Huntington Galleries, Huntington, WV
Masterpieces of African Art: Tishman Collection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1967
Arts connus et arts méconnus de l'Afrique noire, Collection Paul Tishman, Musee de l'Homme, Paris, 1966
Published References:
Arts connus et arts méconnus de l'Afrique noire, Collection Paul Tishman. 1966. Paris: Musee de l'Homme, no. 80 (not illustrated).
Kreamer, Christine Mullen, Bryna Freyer and Andrea Nicolls. 2007. African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 196-197, no. 67.
Muze'on Yisra'el. 1967. Masterpieces of African Art: Tishman Collection. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, no. 120 (not illustrated).
Patton, Sharon F. and Bryna Freyer. 2008. Treasures 2008. Washington D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 132-133.
Ross, Doran (ed.) 1992. Elephant: The Animal and Its Ivory in African Culture. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, p. 200, no. 9-17A.
Sieber, Roy and Arnold Rubin. 1968. Sculpture of Black Africa: The Paul Tishman Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, pp. 11, 80, no. 83.
Vogel, Susan (ed). 1981. For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 133-134, no. 76.
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