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Urhobo Shrine Sculptures FIG. 5: Reenactment battle performed by the Igbu (warrior society) of Edjo Ovughere. Ovu-Otor, southern Nigeria, August 1972. Photo: Perkins Foss. FIG. 6: An Urhobo shrine building and an accompanying ceremony, 1910. Photo: Northcote W. Thomas. Courtesy of The Haddon Library, University of Cambridge. 133 retain traces of the white and yellow pigments that were applied for the above-mentioned ceremonies. The particular statues that this article addresses are among the tallest known examples of Urhobo shrine sculpture, and the shrine that housed them must have been extraordinarily large. It may well have contained a dozen or more statues and would have been a foreboding presence to all. Originally, the warrior would have held weapons in each hand. In his right, he would have had a broad-bladed sword (abere) thrusting upward. In his left, a spear (oshue) would have pointed toward the ground. Each weapon has a particular use: The sword is to attack and destroy enemies and the spear stabbing downward into the earth makes contact with the otherworldly forces that form part of his protection.7 Spanning the breadth of his chest is a band of beads, agigo, worn by members of the executive society of the ohonvworin, the titled individuals who in council manage community affairs. The warrior also displays an array of protective objects, a kind of psychological armor as it were, more so than known on any other Urhobo statue. Hanging from the agigo necklace are seven leather amulets, three small ones on each side of a much larger, triangular one that descends across the sternum.8 Called igbele re eteri (“medicine for the chest”), these would have been filled with specially chosen herbs and magical substances—a proprietary mixture of sacred materials such as pieces of the claws of a leopard, a bit of bark from a particular tree known to have curative powers, kaolin from the banks of a revered river, fingernail parings from a defeated enemy, among other things—and were intended to fend off attacks, both physical and psychological. At his waist is a band of rolled leather (igbele re ophovwi, medicine for war) containing similar substances and also intended to invoke the powers of the edjo. Hanging from this device are remnants of three bells, tones of which were said to attract the forces of the edjo. One documented shrine, that of Owedjebo, includes a similar statue—possibly by the same artist—that is more complete and offers a view of a comparable warrior. This holds a sword (upward) and a spear (downward), and has a complete set of waist beads (fig. 4). What appears to be a top hat on the warrior’s head is in fact just that. These hats were worn by European merchants who visited the Niger Delta in the nineteenth century and were then given to local chiefs to ensure favorable trading relationships. They became an important part of the imagery of Urhobo art and commonly appear on the edjo statues of the period.9 Immediately below the brim of the hat is carved what appears to be a strand of beads from which hang teeth, probably those of a bush pig (ibiakon r’esi). In reality, these would have been attached to a close-fitting cap, over which the European hat would have been placed.10 The nursing mother, the pair to the warrior, is of a type called Oni Emo, or Mother-of-Children. The image is damaged so much that her role as a maternity figure is not readily obvious, but the cylindrical element apparent at the lower left side of the stomach provides evidence of what once was there. Based on evidence from other Urhobo statues, we can feel confident that this would have supported a baby that would have been suckling at the mother’s breast. Helpful in understanding this configuration is the maternity statue in the collection of the Museé du Quai Branly and on display in the Pavillon des Sessions of the Louvre. Here, the baby is intact and its hip clearly rests on a similar support (fig. 8). Unlike the pair here, the Quai Branly example has retained its full identity and its relationship to the other statues of the Owedjebo shrine it comes from. The ankles of the female figure bear a pair of bronze anklets called eromwon, worn by women of high status. Worth noting are the bands of raised cowries on each of them. This ancient currency embellishes these anklets to further signal the high status of the individual. The maternity figure is more than just a depiction of a mother and child. She is an image that should be seen as a mother of all children, in a sense the mother from whom we all descend, empowered by the edjo to establish the community lineage. Worth noting is that the female statue exhibits a yellow, or ocher, surface, while the male has a darker patina. The yellow surface probably comes from a thick coating of a


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