SIGNIFICANCE AND CONDITION
OF THE IGBO OFO, M.0027
OF THE IGBO OFO, M.0027
M.0027, UCL Ethnographic Collection, ritual Ofo from North Western region of Igboland.* |
M.0027 is a composite object carved from wood
with metal bindings, encrusted with mud and facial markings of a white pigment.
With further research, it has been identified as an Igbo Ofo, a symbol of
justice and truth; a ritual object used in prayers and communication with the
ancestors, derived from the physical branchlet of the sacred Ofo tree (Otubah 2015,
173). It measures 45cm long, by 15.75cm across the head, 7.5cm across the foot,
and has a diameter of 8cm. The weight is approximately 900g.
While several styles of Ofo exist, this
particular style – a club-shaped carved stave with iron embellishments was common
in the North Western region of Igboland, confirming the suspected origins of the Onitsha province, declared on the the accompanying label (Ejizu 1987, 462).
SIGNIFICANCE
Collected by Jeffreys, donated by the Wellcome Trust to the BM in 1954 (Af.1954,23.1559, © British Museum). |
Private collection, example of the Ofo stylistic group collected by Jeffreys (Bentor 1988, 67). |
This Ofo in particular is primarily
concerned with aesthetic and scientific significance. An un-consecrated Ofo is
simply an object, thus created for its artistic appeal (Ikegwu 2016, 10). It
represents the skill of the craftsman in the detail of woodcarving and
ironwork. Additionally, its placement within a research and teaching collection in UCL department of Anthropology's Ethnographic Collection makes it an object of scientific significance.
Its social context is somewhat controversial. There are those who wish to revive the traditional customs and replace the Ofo to its former position of respect, however there are also those who identify with the Christian community and view the Ofo as an instrument in a ‘fetish’ cult and should be eliminated entirely (Ibid, 9). It becomes an interest to both of these groups for very conflicting purposes, yet both must be acknowledged to appropriately identify conservation priorities.
Degradation of the Ofo.
White pigment and mud loss from the surface of the Ofo,
visiblecracking and splitting of the wood from low RH.
|
CONDITION
New storage mount constructed for the Ofo, covered with teflon to limit abrasion. |
Active corrosion of iron visible through the iron prongs on the backside of the Ofo under magnification. |
Its current condition can be attributed to
poor handling and storage conditions during its life in the collection, only
receiving a storage mount in March 2016 despite its acquisition in the 1950s.
The object suffers from surface loss, as
the friable mud and white face decoration crumbles on physical contact. The
iron is covered by a layer of red-brown rust formed by iron oxidation in the
presence of moisture (Stuart 2007, 39). The acidic off-gas of wood is
causing the active corrosion of the iron, only visible under magnification. Furthermore, the wood is splitting and shrinking. The iron bands wrapped at the top and bottom of the shaft are loose, and cracks in the wood are visible on the face and body of the Ofo. Low, or fluctuations of RH have caused the wood to dry out and display these characteristic signs of deterioration (Hunt 1992, 132).
Despite these issues of degradation the Ofo has survived well in its conditions. If the local environment does not suffer from fluctuation, it will continue to survive in its current sate. Thus the Ofo is a low conservation priority, as long as the environment remains stable, so will the object's condition.
*Images by the author unless otherwise noted.
Bentor,
E. 1988. Life as an Artistic Process: Igbo Ikenga and Ofo. African Arts Vol. 21.2, 66-71.
Ejizu,
CI. 1987. The Taxonomy, Provenance, and Functions of Ofo: A Dominant Igbo
Ritual and Political Symbol. Anthropos Vol.
82.4/6, 457-467.
Hunt,
VR. 1992. Composite Objects: Materials and Storage Conditions. In Bachmann, K.
(ed.) Conservation Concerns, A Guide for
Collectors and Curators. Smithsonian Institute Press: Washington DC,
129-133.
Ikegwu,
JU. 2016. Ofo as a global cultural
resource and its significance in Igbo culture area. Retrieved 18 March 2016
from World Wide Web: https://www.academia.edu/7848349/Ofo_as_a_Global_Cultural_Resource_and_Its_Significance_in_Igbo_Culture_Area.
Otubah,
GI. 2015. Different Ritual symbols in Igbo Traditional Religion and their
Functions. Journal of Religion and Human
Relations Vol. 7.2, 169-177.
Stuart,
BH. 2007. Analytical Techniques in
Conservation Materials. John Wiley and Sons: Chichester.
British
Museum. Retrieved 18 March 2016 from World Wide Web: http://www.britishmuseum.org/.
This post refers to coursework done for ARCLG142 (2015-16), one of the core courses of the UCL MA Principles of Conservation. As part of their assessed work for this course, students were asked to investigate objects from the UCL Ethnography Collections at the UCL Department of Anthropology. Here they present a summary of their main conclusions. We hope you enjoy our work! Comments are most welcome.
This post refers to coursework done for ARCLG142 (2015-16), one of the core courses of the UCL MA Principles of Conservation. As part of their assessed work for this course, students were asked to investigate objects from the UCL Ethnography Collections at the UCL Department of Anthropology. Here they present a summary of their main conclusions. We hope you enjoy our work! Comments are most welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment