Blade

African

  • Titles Blade (Descriptive)
  • Medium iron
  • Dimensions 5 5/8 x 2 3/4 x 1/4 in. (14.3 x 7 x 0.6 cm)
  • Credit Line Gift of Mortimer B. and Sue Fuller, 2006.133
  • Work Type blade
  • Classification Furnishings and Equipment

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Carved wooden mask with mud packed fiber wig and woven neck piece. Mask used in initiation ritual.
Vessel cover dedicated to the river god, Erinle. Such vessels were used to hold "moving water" from rivers or the sea, but not from wells, Every sixteen days the water is renewed together with two stones taken from a river as symbols of Erinle. The stones are also considered analogous to embryos in the womb. Surmounted by a male figure with his arms around a bowl on a potstand, a salamander or other river animal is behind him, and ritual implements surround him.
Figurative vessel has curved arms with hands resting on abdomen just below breasts; head has modeled features and plaited hair. Slightly flared opening to vessel rises from top of head.
Woven plant fiber tunic with attached porcupine quills.