Description
Rare pair of ram's heads uhunmwun-elao (uhumwelao). Kingdom of Owo or Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria. H 35.5 and 37 cm. Like those of the Edo/Bini (Benin Kingdom), the altars of high-ranking Owo chiefs were decorated with heads, oliphants, carved tusks and other sacred objects. Similar to the bronze heads of the Benin kingdom, the wooden ram heads, the osamasinmi, were given libations when the first yams were harvested. They embody the idea of the ancestors as mediators for the transfer of the fertilizing life force from the gods, which finds a striking sculptural expression in the emphasis on the exponential curvature of the horns and the powerful thrust of the breastbone. Illustrated in: K.-F. Schaedler, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture (2009), p. 36. Minor abrasions, otherwise intact. Provenance: Ex collection Manfred Schäfer, Ulm.
466
Rare pair of ram's heads uhunmwun-elao (uhumwelao). Kingdom of Owo or Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria. H 35.5 and 37 cm. Like those of the Edo/Bini (Benin Kingdom), the altars of high-ranking Owo chiefs were decorated with heads, oliphants, carved tusks and other sacred objects. Similar to the bronze heads of the Benin kingdom, the wooden ram heads, the osamasinmi, were given libations when the first yams were harvested. They embody the idea of the ancestors as mediators for the transfer of the fertilizing life force from the gods, which finds a striking sculptural expression in the emphasis on the exponential curvature of the horns and the powerful thrust of the breastbone. Illustrated in: K.-F. Schaedler, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture (2009), p. 36. Minor abrasions, otherwise intact. Provenance: Ex collection Manfred Schäfer, Ulm.
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