Ram's head figurine

Museum number:
5-14936
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21050014936
Alternate number:
B-1269 (previous number (Bascom’s number))
Accession number:
Acc.4320
Description:
Ram's head (wood sculpture); solid block of hardwood; fully carved head on self pedestal which has weaving-like design (curving over and under elements) in low relief; old termite damage and cracks; fully carved horns serve as handles; long slot in back pierced top and bottom for attachment; circular engraving on forehead and neck; height: 37.8 cm.
Donor:
Berta Bascom
Collection place:
Owo, Nigeria
Verbatim coll. place:
Nigeria, Yoruba attrib. prob. from Owo (may be Bini)*; Purchased from Old Curiosity Shop, L. A.
Culture or time period:
Yoruba
Collector:
Berta Bascom and William Russell Bascom
Collection date:
1970
Materials:
Wood (plant material)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Figurines and Rams
Function:
5.1 Religion and Divination: Objects and garb associated with practices reflecting submission, devotion, obedience, and service to supernatural agencies
Accession date:
April 19, 1988
Context of use:
similar Yoruba sculpture #89 in Bascom's AFRICAN ARTS (Lowie Mus. publ.): "Ram's head ('osamasinmi'), for the ancestral shrine of the royal lineage where sacrifices were made at the cutting of the first yams each year." Bascom, AF. ART IN CULT. PERSPECTIVE, p. 92: "Carved wooden ram heads were kept at ancestral shrines of the royal lineage at Owo, an eastern kingdom [Yoruba] whose art shows Bini influence in this and other respects." Also Fagg, Wm. et al, YORUBA SCULPTURE OF WEST AFRICA fig. 26 illustrates "Head of a ram given to Maurice Cockin by the Olowo of Owo about 1910. Wood, H. 19 1/2". Text for this specimen, on p. 48: "The confident boldness of line and volume which distinguishes Owo sculpture from the rather stolid and pedestrian wood carving of Benin is well seen in the magnificent ram's head in Figure 25, and in the human head with ram's horns in Figure 26, one of three which I photographed in the house of Chief Oludasa some ten years before it was destroyed by fire. Both types of head are used in the chiefly ancestor cult, and perform the same function as the bronze heads still to be seen on the altars of some of the lesser Bini chiefs - that is, they function as a kind of receptacle into which the spirit of the ancestor can be summoned during rites in his honor. (Like the wood heads at Benin, these Owo heads are all provided at the back with a vertical socket for a short stick, which may be intended to be rattled when summoning the spirit, or merely as a support for a small elephant tusk.
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Dimensions:
height 37.8 centimeters
Comment:
*see above references
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 6 titled Ram's head figurine, accession number 5-14936, described as Ram's head (wood sculpture); solid block of hardwood; fully carved head on self pedestal which has weaving-like design (curving over and under elements) in low relief; old termite damage and cracks; fully carved horns serve as handles; long slot in back pierced top and bottom for attachment; circular engraving on forehead and neck; height: 37.8 cm.Hearst Museum object 2 of 6 titled Ram's head figurine, accession number 5-14936, described as Ram's head (wood sculpture); solid block of hardwood; fully carved head on self pedestal which has weaving-like design (curving over and under elements) in low relief; old termite damage and cracks; fully carved horns serve as handles; long slot in back pierced top and bottom for attachment; circular engraving on forehead and neck; height: 37.8 cm.Hearst Museum object 3 of 6 titled Ram's head figurine, accession number 5-14936, described as Ram's head (wood sculpture); solid block of hardwood; fully carved head on self pedestal which has weaving-like design (curving over and under elements) in low relief; old termite damage and cracks; fully carved horns serve as handles; long slot in back pierced top and bottom for attachment; circular engraving on forehead and neck; height: 37.8 cm.Hearst Museum object 4 of 6 titled Ram's head figurine, accession number 5-14936, described as Ram's head (wood sculpture); solid block of hardwood; fully carved head on self pedestal which has weaving-like design (curving over and under elements) in low relief; old termite damage and cracks; fully carved horns serve as handles; long slot in back pierced top and bottom for attachment; circular engraving on forehead and neck; height: 37.8 cm.Hearst Museum object 5 of 6 titled Ram's head figurine, accession number 5-14936, described as Ram's head (wood sculpture); solid block of hardwood; fully carved head on self pedestal which has weaving-like design (curving over and under elements) in low relief; old termite damage and cracks; fully carved horns serve as handles; long slot in back pierced top and bottom for attachment; circular engraving on forehead and neck; height: 37.8 cm.Hearst Museum object 6 of 6 titled Ram's head figurine, accession number 5-14936, described as Ram's head (wood sculpture); solid block of hardwood; fully carved head on self pedestal which has weaving-like design (curving over and under elements) in low relief; old termite damage and cracks; fully carved horns serve as handles; long slot in back pierced top and bottom for attachment; circular engraving on forehead and neck; height: 37.8 cm.
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Ram's head figurine, accession number 5-14936, described as Ram's head (wood sculpture); solid block of hardwood; fully carved head on self pedestal which has weaving-like design (curving over and under elements) in low relief; old termite damage and cracks; fully carved horns serve as handles; long slot in back pierced top and bottom for attachment; circular engraving on forehead and neck; height: 37.8 cm.Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Ram's head figurine, accession number 5-14936, described as Ram's head (wood sculpture); solid block of hardwood; fully carved head on self pedestal which has weaving-like design (curving over and under elements) in low relief; old termite damage and cracks; fully carved horns serve as handles; long slot in back pierced top and bottom for attachment; circular engraving on forehead and neck; height: 37.8 cm.

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