Ocheogwu Shrine Figure (Ntekpe)

Place CreatedNigeria, Africa

CultureIgbo

Date19th-20th Century

MediumClay, pigment

Credit LineEx coll. William S. Arnett

Dimensions10 5/8 x 5 7/8 x 7 1/2 in. (27 x 15 x 19.1 cm)

Object number1994.004.709

Label TextFigures like this one, called ntekpe, are placed around a ceramic bowl to make an ocheogwu medicinal shrine. They served much the same protective purposes as the figures attached to the medicine bowls 1994.4. 785 and 1994.4.786. Years of exposure to the elements has imbued the figure with a delicate surface patina. In Igbo society potters are women. However, since a woman's fertility is believed to be endangered if she transgresses into the male creative domain of image-making, only post-menopausal women make these types of objects.
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
Spirited Vessels: Creation and Ritual in African Ceramics, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 7 - April 11, 2004
Divine Intervention: African Art and Religion, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 5 - December 4, 2011
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), 110, figure 257.

ProvenanceEx coll. William S. Arnett (1939-2020), Atlanta, Georgia, by 1978.

Status

Not on view

Collections