Fine Art / Visual Art · Lesson 6

Esie, Owo, Akwanshi, Mbari, Igala, Jukun; Nigerian crafts, festivals and beliefs

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: Nigerian traditional art (Esie, Owo etc.); modern traditional art (Mbari mud sculpture, Bida brass, calabash carving, weaving, leatherwork, wall decoration); cultural festivals. JAMB Section B 3 (Esie, Igala, Jukun, Akwanshi, Mbari), B 4 (Nigerian crafts), B 5e (festivals).

WAEC: Nigerian traditional art (Esie, Owo etc.); modern traditional art (Mbari mud sculpture, Bida brass, calabash carving, weaving, leatherwork, wall decoration); cultural festivals. JAMB Section B 3 (Esie, Igala, Jukun, Akwanshi, Mbari), B 4 (Nigerian crafts), B 5e (festivals).

NECO: Nigerian traditional art (Esie, Owo etc.); modern traditional art (Mbari mud sculpture, Bida brass, calabash carving, weaving, leatherwork, wall decoration); cultural festivals. JAMB Section B 3 (Esie, Igala, Jukun, Akwanshi, Mbari), B 4 (Nigerian crafts), B 5e (festivals).

What you will learn

Describe Esie, Owo, Akwanshi, Mbari, Igala and Jukun art.
Explain their functions and beliefs.
Trace origins, locations and styles of Nigerian crafts.
Describe the artistic features of major festivals.
Compare traditions in a table.

Key points

Esie: soapstone, Kwara, 1945 museum.
Owo: Ekpo Eyo, 15th c., terracotta/ivory.
Akwanshi: basalt monoliths, Ikom.
Mbari: mud offering houses for Ala.
Igala: Idah royal masks; Jukun: Wukari figures.
Crafts: know centres and styles.
Festivals: know place, purpose and visual features.
Always link form to belief and function.

Start here: Esie soapstone figures: location and discovery

WAEC lists Esie under ancient Nigerian art; JAMB lists it in Section B 3.

Location

Esie is an Igbomina Yoruba town in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, near Oro and Omu-Aran.

Discovery

According to local oral tradition, a hunter named Baragbon found the figures in a grove, arranged around a central “king” figure, around 1775 (the date usually given in Nigerian sources). The people believed the figures were humans turned to stone, and they were venerated. The figures came to wider attention in 1933 through the missionary/school inspector H. G. Ramshaw, and in 1945 the colonial government built the Esie Museum, the first museum in Nigeria, to protect them.

Number

Sources give different totals: “over 800”, “over 1,000”, about 1,500, and even 1,700 in an early report. Say more than 1,000 to be safe. It is often described as the largest collection of soapstone figures in the world.

Date and makers

The makers are unknown. The soapstone is not found in Esie itself, which adds to the mystery. Scientific dating of associated material suggests the figures were made roughly between the 12th and 15th centuries AD (thermoluminescence of associated terracotta gave about the 12th century; radiocarbon from recent excavations indicates a flourishing between the late 13th and mid-15th centuries). Some scholars link them with Old Oyo, Ife or Nupe influences, but none is proven.

Festival

An annual festival is still held at the museum (usually around April), at which the figures are honoured.

Esie also shows how belief protects heritage: because the figures are considered ancestors, the community has guarded them for generations.

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Practice questions

1. The Esie soapstone figures are in

Kwara State
Ondo State
Cross River State
Benue State

Show answer

A: Kwara State
Esie, near Oro.

2. Esie Museum, opened in 1945, is regarded as

the largest museum in Africa
a private gallery
a university museum
the first museum in Nigeria

Show answer

D: the first museum in Nigeria
First in Nigeria.

3. Esie figures are carved in

terracotta
basalt
soapstone
granite

Show answer

C: soapstone
Steatite.

4. Owo art is often described as a link between

Mbari and Igala
Ife and Benin
Nok and Igbo-Ukwu
Esie and Akwanshi

Show answer

B: Ife and Benin
Shows both styles.

5. Owo terracottas were excavated by

Ekpo Eyo
Bernard Fagg
Thurstan Shaw
Ulli Beier

Show answer

A: Ekpo Eyo
Igbo’Laja excavation.

Key words

Soapstone: Soft carvable stone (steatite).
Monolith: Single large standing stone.
Mbari: Igbo mud-sculpture shrine house.
Ala: Igbo earth goddess.
Ata: King of Igala.
Aku Uka: Jukun divine king.
Ekpo: Ibibio ancestral society.
Egungun: Yoruba ancestral masquerade.
Durbar: Horsemen’s parade.
Aso-oke: Yoruba strip-woven cloth.
Akwete: Women’s woven cloth of Abia.
Uli: Igbo body/wall painting.

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