STRIKING IRON
75
FIGS. 14a and b (above and right):
Anthropomorphic lance, nege muso.
Bamana; Mali. Late 19th to early 20th century.
Iron. H: 161.4 cm.
Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris 70.2000.17.1. Photo (right): Patrick
Gries. © Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Dist. Rmn-Grand Palais/Art
Resource, NY. Detail photo (above): Tom Joyce.
Only the most competent and highly trained artists among Bamana blacksmiths
specialized in the manufacture of figural staffs. Made to honor ancestors and
herald chiefs, they graced initiation associations’ altars or were kept by individuals
along with other power objects. This anthropomorphic lance is imbued from tip
to tip with painstakingly forged details commensurate with its owner’s elevated
status. The female figure’s pronounced umbilicus calls attention to the fecundity
of women and their life-giving potential.
FIGS. 15a and b (above):
Staff, ọ̀pá Òrìṣà Oko.
Yorùbá; Nigeria. 19th to early 20th century.
Iron, wood. H: 146.5 cm.
Private collection.
Image © courtesy Fowler Museum at UCLA. Photo: Don Cole, 2018.
The elaborate imagery on this staff refers to the eternal cycle of life and
death. Among Yorùbá peoples, the staff called ọ̀pá Òrìṣà Oko honors and
embodies Oko, a deity associated with agricultural fertility and sustenance.
This particular staff’s ability to confer blessings of community prosperity is
strengthened by an investment of worn-down iron hoe blades, forged together
to create its figurative “torso.” The efficacy of an ọ̀pá Òrìṣà Oko is enhanced
by the extraordinary amount of labor a blacksmith devotes to shaping and
embellishing every surface.