Catalogue card 1 notes: Uxurhe-quia. A carved staff used in the worship of Ovia, an Edo river goddess. The figure near the top represents a masked dancer playing the part of an Ovia spirit. He wears a parrot-feather headdress, has a thick net over his face and palm-fronds cover his body. In his hands are two small sticks with which he beats out the rhythm of the Ovia dances.
Catalogue card 2 reads: 'Stave (Ovia) with elaborate puzzle-carving and human figure in ceremonial costume, holding two sticks
Labelled 'Thomas Colln, S. Nigeria 1910-13, 2242.296''
Wooden staff with decorated rattle section at middle and a horned, masquerade figure at top. The very top of the staff is thistle shaped, with a large decorated ball and inverted triangle on top. The figure is wearing a headdress of a similar form.
Wooden staff with decorated rattle section at middle and a horned, masquerade figure at top. The very top of the staff is thistle shaped, with a large decorated ball and inverted triangle on top. The figure is wearing a headdress of a similar form.
During the collections-based phase of the Museum Affordances Project 2018, photographs of some of these rattle staffs were shared on the project Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/reentanglements/).
In a comment on 01/10/2018, Adenike Cosgrove wrote: ' This looks to be an Edo ukhurhe rattle staff. You can read more about them here: https://www.imodara.com/.../nigeria-edo-ukhurhe-rattle.../'
These staffs (Z 20317 - Z 20342) appear to have been carved by the same hand, or in the same workshop and were collected by N.W. Thomas as a group. They are listed in Thomas' 1st catalogue (Doc.413) as entries 308-335, which are situated at the very back of the catalogue.
Other/1
Production - use
Catalogue card 1 reads: 'Uxurhe-quia. A carved staff used in the worship of Ovia, an Edo river goddess. The figure near the top represents a masked dancer playing the part of an Ovia spirit (erioi Quia [see catalogue card for ?phonetic spelling]) - ie a past worshipper of Ovia and therefore an ancestor of the present worshippers. He wears a parrot-feather headdress, has a thick net over his face and palm-fronds cover his body. In his hands are two small sticks with which he beats out the rhythm of the Ovia dances.
The staff is very closely associated with the power spirit of Ovia. No woman must see it except in the presence of masked Ovia dancers. Sacrifices to Ovia are made over it and it is layed on the ground and the [?] clapper [word unclear] rattled to emphasise curses and prayers. This is a rather poor example. Those in use today are generally very much larger and more elaborately carved.'