Lid of a Ceremonial Vessel (awa ota Eyinle)

Images(3)

Lid of a Ceremonial Vessel (awa ota Eyinle)

Artist Artist Unknown

Datelate 19th–early 20th century

MediumTerracotta and indigo pigment

Dimensions14 x 12 1/4 x 12 1/4 in. (35.6 x 31.1 x 31.1 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of Lee and Dona Bronson

Object numberG.77.7.4

On View

Not on view

Label TextA female artist would have made this lid, as all Yoruba potters are women. Although she is not identified, her style resembles that of Abatan of Oke Odan, probably the most renowned twentieth-century Yoruba potter, respected for her artistic individuality. Whereas the companion bowl is missing, the lid with a mother and twin infants remains well preserved, with the rich indigo patination still visible. The woman depicted is a devotee of the river god Eyinle, to whom river stones, sand, and water are sacred. The vessel—awo ota Eyinle, or “vessel for the stones of Eyinle”—and contents symbolized abundance, longevity, and the afterlife, endless like the waters in which Eyinle dwells.

The lid is decorated with bosses, small projections that refer to the sacred stones within. The four-sided, openwork summit is called an ade (crown), referring to the importance of the head as the seat of creativity, royalty, individuality, and ase—divine energy and the power to ‘make things happen.’ Placed on a raised earthen platform, the vessel creates a womb that protects and nurtures the ase of Eyinle that in turn invigorates the devotee.Published ReferencesRebecca Martin Nagy, entry for Lid of a Ceremonial Vessel, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 54, illus. (color).

Seeing Women: Celebrating Women's History through Art, Newspapers in Education (supplement to the Raleigh News & Observer, n.d.), 4-5, illus. (b-w) 4.

Rebecca Martin Nagy, entry for Lid of a Ceremonial Vessel, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 114, illus. (color) 115.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions,” December 14, 1978-January 28, 1979.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, Mary Duke Biddle Gallery, “Yoruba Art: A Living Tradition,” October 23, 1993-June 12, 1994.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Sacred Motherhood: Mother-and-Child Representations from the Permanent Collection,” May 4–December 7, 2014. Object Rights Statement

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