amor4ce:

These figurines include holes  around the fringes of the scalp, moustache and beard. A certain Biblical anthropologist asserts that figurines excavated from the city of David (Dawodu) included such perforations in which hair from the dead (deified?) ancestor/ruler was woven. My argument was that if the hair was kinky that would pose challenges. however, the response I got was that rulers at that time had their hair braided. Previously I had thought Sango's was an exception and that the perforations had to do with the casting technique. Also, the records of Yoruba rulers we seem to have are not distant from the period of Sango's reign.

Do you know of any other Yoruba ruler whose hair was plaited/braided?
Are there any other reasons for the perforations?

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/2010-04-25-20-45-27-museum-announces-us-tour-of-ife-art-in-ancient-nigeria-exhibition.html

http://www.africanart.org/products/228/dynasty_and_divinity_ife_art_in_ancient_nigeria

[img]http://hum.lss.wisc.edu/hjdrewal/Ife5.jpg[/img]http://hum.lss.wisc.edu/hjdrewal/Ife.html

Do you know of any other Yoruba ruler whose hair was plaited/braided?
I have heard Sango or Shango did, I haven't looked into too much but Sango comes to mind though
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shango

Are there any other reasons for the perforations?
well when it comes to the little holes on the top edges of the scalp I am not sure but when it comes to the neck area, on some of the statues there is one big hole and in the documentary one of the researchers suspected and concluded it was meant to hold decorative red coral beading necklace(the ones you see in Nigerian engagements being worn or by royal families) that they attached to the hole of the statue in the neck area, I suspect their maybe a connection between that and those small holes that you mentioned in the scalp area, maybe it was used to attach decorations to but for some reason I doubt it though, to me I feel those small holes were there to attach maybe a crown though, that seems more likely to me.

I doubt if they were to attach crowns or bead-like decorations as such would have been excavated alongside the figurines. However, if hair were attached then it would have decayed over time underground or when exposed to the elements.

Furthermore it strongly supports the Orun Oba Ado claim:
If it was a standard practice from Ife then the heads of Benin kings could truly have been taken to Ife for the sculptors to produce the bronze replica with the hair attached and sending such to Benin. This can be verified by finding out if Benin royal bronze heads had similar holes and if any of their rulers had braided hair.

there's a separate thread discussing benin art and architecture.

lets not overlap the two threads, thanks.

i think you can ask your question there.


as per hair or no hair- obas' faces are usually covered, so the issue of hair is irrelevant imo.

sango supposedly having braided hair doesnt mean all obas had braided hair. Only sango devotees would have to wear that hairstyle.


try to get perspective and the overall context instead of these bits and pieces from google/wiki.

it would be better if you got your knowledge from accurate oral sources first.

amor4ce:

I doubt if they were to attach crowns or bead-like decorations as such would have been excavated alongside the figurines. However, if hair were attached then it would have decayed over time underground or when exposed to the elements.

it is just a theory of mine but I know for sure those holes were used for holding something to the head, what it is we may never know unless evidence of some explanation comes up

amor4ce:

Furthermore it strongly supports the Orun Oba Ado claim:
If it was a standard practice from Ife then the heads of Benin kings could truly have been taken to Ife for the sculptors to produce the bronze replica with the hair attached and sending such to Benin. This can be verified by finding out if Benin royal bronze heads had similar holes and if any of their rulers had braided hair.

I doubt either or influenced one another when it comes to bronze sculpting, to me they had the influence from the Nok, and they separately advanced it in their own way without each others help.

Where is the Ife King bronze head at the moment?

all4naija:

Where is the Ife King bronze head at the moment?

Some are owned by the British museum, and others are owned by Ile-ife themselves. In the videos it mentioned how some are owned by the oba and the others in the British museum.

anonymous6:

Some are owned by the British museum, and others are owned by Ile-ife themselves. In the videos it mentioned how some are owned by the oba and the others in the British museum.

I mean this particular one, the 'Ife King Bronze head' we are told to be the most significant one. The image below:

all4naija:

I mean this particular one, the 'Ife King Bronze head' we are told to be the most significant one. The image below:

British museum

tpia@, my comments are within the domain of this thread!

The Heads are speaking. . . . ."we love blue"!


Let's step back for a moment and cast our gaze on a different dimension in the Yoruba origins,   

For those who say Ile-Ife is the origin of Yoruba and the primordial birthplace of the human race, then you are accepting that other civilizations took their root from Ile-Ife. 

For those who say AfroAsia is the origin of the Yoruba and the primordial birthplace of human race, you are also accepting that civilizations started in AfroAsia.

Either way, Yoruba is central in the history and narrative of ancient civilizations.  We should then have the reason and justification to snatch away most of the Grecko-Roman mythologies as Yoruba creation or model.  Plato, one of the most revered Grecko-Roman philosophers was for a long time credited as a steward of Roman scholarship, until new evidences surfaced that confirmed he was indeed a student of Egyptian arts and philosophy. Historians then agreed that Roman philosophy is built on the Egyptian model.

There are far too may things common with the Yoruba antiquity and that of Mediterranean that the latter cannot escape the many questions of where it got its mythical gods and sunken Atlantis from.

Yoruba is the only culture with a god directly associated in name and divine attribute with Atlantis - Oba Atala or Obatala.  This would mean Atlantis itself is a derivative from Yoruba word, ATALA.

^^^
Funny story with no evidences. You comment is more like guessing though. That doesn't speak for Yoruba aged culture and traditions.

Ife Buddha


http://charlesstinson.com/?p=598

Do you know of any other Yoruba ruler whose hair was plaited/braided?

The picture below crossed my mind when i saw the above question.

I almost wonder if a reason for the braiding was to distinguish in some way the King from his subjects?

like i said before, specific to situation.


its very tiring having to go through the same things over and over again and like lecturing basic arithmetic all the time to people who should be at a different level.

folks should please learn to assimilate info and apply cognition to what they're reading on google.

unless of course your primary mission is misinformation.

Doesn't pride come before fall?

Una dey fight? Come on! man! Its just a discussion innit? loool!.

[img]http://hum.lss.wisc.edu/hjdrewal/FIGUREOFONI.jpg[/img]
http://www.oakton.edu/user/0/tparod/art114/Week3Nigeria.html

Smh.

I really dont understand why people take delight in being s.tupid and sounding like howler monkeys on the internet. Of course its entirely possible they actually do function at the level of a retarded chimpanzee but it gets irritating when they constantly damage nigeria's already battered image with their senseless postings.

Anyway, not my problem.

Let's not ruin the thread. If i decide to take them on now some people will say tpia is scattering the thread.

But i.diocy is so annoying, especially when the croaking toads have this oversabi attitude when in fact they apear extremely backward and d.aft?

[img]http://vincecrawley.files./2011/08/ifa-face-vincecrawley.jpg[/img]
http://vincecrawley./2011/08/31/journey-to-africom/

Anonymous, I like that blowup, look Great! For the heads, stay blue!


Tpia, you and Amor4ce have different approach or style of unveiling the messages in these arts. Your approach is academic, his approach is cultural, you are liberal with the ideas and looking outward, he is conservative and focused inward. There is no need to disrespect, the forum can accomodate both of you and many other views on the arts. Ok dear?

What was/is the purpose of making these figurines?
Were they buried in the graves of the concerned individuals?
Which other African culture produced similar and individualistic figurines for similar purposes?

Perhaps I've missed the responses to these earlier on this thread.

http://galerie-herrmann.com/arts/art3/Ife_Benin/16_Kopf_Ife/e_Head_Ife_750Y.htm

Memorial Head:
This larger-than-life, 750-year-old head from Ife was very thinly cast and, accordingly, is quite light. Its enormous size indicates that it does not belong to the tradition of heads that were bedecked with the Oni's actual crown after his death. More likely, this head was outfitted with a similarly-cast bronze crown.
The various holes that dot the face were originally ornamented with small pearls, leading Willett to suspect that they were perhaps intended as a means to seal the mouth. This practice hearkens back to various traditions according to which the Oni, as a type of divine king, was not permitted to show his mouth publicly - neither while talking nor while eating (cf. Willett, p. 30).


Cp.:
Frank WILLETT: Ife. Metropole afrikanischer Kunst, Bergisch Gladbach 1967, S. 36.
Barbara PLANKENSTEINER (Hg.): Benin. Könige und Rituale. Höfische Kunst aus Nigeria, Wien 2007, S. 272.



http://www.artnews.com/2010/03/01/a-head-of-its-time/

the red picture is really great.

nice detail and it brings out the features on that sculpture.

@ negro

you can give them the benefit of the doubt if you want- they'll keep on exposing themselves the more they type.

tpia@:

the red picture is really great.

nice detail and it brings out the features on that sculpture.

Negro_Ntns:

Anonymous, I like that blowup, look Great! For the heads, stay blue!

THANKS

amor4ce:


http://galerie-herrmann.com/arts/art3/Ife_Benin/16_Kopf_Ife/e_Head_Ife_750Y.htm

Memorial Head:
This larger-than-life, 750-year-old head from Ife was very thinly cast and, accordingly, is quite light. Its enormous size indicates that it does not  belong to the tradition of heads that were bedecked with the Oni's actual crown after his death. More likely, this head was outfitted with a similarly-cast bronze crown.
The various holes that dot the face were originally ornamented with small pearls, leading Willett to suspect that they were perhaps intended as a means to seal the mouth. This practice hearkens back to various traditions according to which the Oni, as a type of divine king, was not permitted to show his mouth publicly - neither while talking nor while eating (cf. Willett, p. 30).


Cp.:
Frank WILLETT: Ife. Metropole afrikanischer Kunst, Bergisch Gladbach 1967, S. 36.
Barbara PLANKENSTEINER (Hg.): Benin. Könige und Rituale. Höfische Kunst aus Nigeria, Wien 2007, S. 272.



http://www.artnews.com/2010/03/01/a-head-of-its-time/

interesting, I always knew those small holes were meant to hold something but the debate was what?; willett's theory about it's intention, I never really suspected though

I hadn't paid much attention to the holes till I read this blog.

[img]http://3.bp..com/_uEADAm_l6MU/S64caiy4bFI/AAAAAAAAATc/8QzfK67EwCw/s1600/ife001.jpg[/img]
http://tenthousandlux..com/2010/03/kingdom-of-ife.html

http://history2701.wikia.com/wiki/Bronze_Ife_Head_from_the_Kingdon_of_Ife,_Nigeria_%281400-1500_CE%29

Amor4ce,

That blog site is interesting. I know Yorubas also use the totem as a social emblem of lineage and class but never connected it that far into the roots . My lineage totem is 'Erin".