Wooden staff with rattle section at centre and female standing figure at top. The figure holds an orb in one hand and has scarification marks on the forehead. The rattle section is carved with geometric patterns.
Wooden staff with rattle section at centre and female standing figure at top. The figure holds an orb in one hand and has scarification marks on the forehead. The rattle section is carved with geometric patterns.
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.