Ocheogwu Shrine Vessel with Figures

Place CreatedNigeria, Africa

CultureIgbo

Datelate 19th-early 20th Century

MediumClay

Credit LineEx coll. William S. Arnett

Dimensions13 11/16 x 16 7/8 in. (34.8 x 42.8 cm)

Object number1994.004.786

Label TextThis vessel is from northeastern Igboland, in Nigeria. Bowls of this type are shrines called ocheogwu, which means "pot of medicine". They were installed in gardens or near the entrances to the homes of blacksmiths and diviners. Perched on the rim of the ocheogwu shrine are sets of male/female pairs. It may depict a sacred ceremony. The male/female pairs hold hands in the company of a fifth figure with a child. Across the bowl from the mother and child is a small object, perhaps an altar or offering bench, flanked by two round-headed lizards. Not all ocheogwu shrines contain figurative images. However, if divination (a process that seeks to foresee future events and hidden knowledge) reveals that the deity of the shrine wishes one, vessels like these will be created. The figures are therefore the potter's personal interpretation of the deity's request. Called ntekpe, or "children of the shrine", the figures serve as guardians of the bowl's contents. The vessels were used to hold purified water, sometimes mixed with medicines. The water was obtained from rivers and streams associated with the deity to whom the shrine was dedicated.
Exhibition HistoryThree Rivers of Nigeria: Art of the Lower Niger, Cross, and Benue from the Collection of William and Robert Arnett, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, 1978
Art of Nigeria from the William S. Arnett Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, October 15, 1994 - January 2, 1995
Five Continents-Nine Millennia, Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, International Concourse E, March 1995 - November 1996
Spirited Vessels: Creation and Ritual in African Ceramics, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 7 - April 11, 2004
Published ReferencesMarcilene K. Wittmer and William Arnett, Three Rivers of Nigeria: Art of the Lower Niger, Cross, and Benue (Atlanta: The High Museum of Art, 1978), front cover, 109, number 255.

ProvenanceEx coll. William Arnett (1939-2020), Atlanta, Georgia, from at least 1978.

Status

Not on view

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