Art in Ancient Ife, Birthplace of the Yoruba

african arts Winter 2012 vol. 45, no.4

Art in Ancient Ife,

Birthplace of the Yoruba

Suzanne Preston Blier

rtists the world over shape knowledge and

material into works of unique historical

importance. e artists of ancient Ife, ances-

tral home to the Yoruba and mythic birthplace

of gods and humans, clearly were interested in

creating works that could be read. Breaking

the symbolic code that lies behind the unique meanings of Ife’s

ancient sculptures, however, has vexed scholars working on this

material for over a century. While much remains to be learned,

thanks to a better understanding of the larger corpus of ancient

Ife arts and the history of this important southwestern Nigerian

center, key aspects of this code can now be discerned. In this

article I explore how these arts both inform and are enriched by

early Ife history and the leaders who shaped it.



In addition to

core questions of art iconography and symbolism, I also address

the potent social, political, religious, and historical import of

these works and what they reveal about Ife (Ile-Ife) as an early

cosmopolitan center

My analysis moves away from the recent framing of ancient

Ife art from the vantage of Yoruba cultural practices collected

in Nigeria more broadly, and/or the indiscriminate use of

regional and modern Yoruba proverbs, poems, or language idi-

oms to inform this city’s unique -year-old sculptural oeuvre.



Instead I focus on historical and other considerations in metro-

politan Ife itself. is shi is an important one because Ife’s his-

tory, language, and art forms are notably dierent than those in

the wider Yoruba region and later eras. My approach also diers

from recent studies that either ahistorically superimpose con-

temporary cultural conventions on the reading of ancient works

or unilinearly posit art development models concerning form

or material dierences that lack grounding in Ife archaeologi-

cal evidence. My aim instead is to reengage these remarkable

ancient works alongside diverse evidence on this center’s past

and the time frame specic to when these sculptures were made.

In this way I bring art and history into direct engagement with

each other, enriching both within this process.

One of the most important events in ancient Ife history with

respect to both the early arts and later era religious and political

traditions here was a devastating civil war pitting one group, the

supporters of Obatala (referencing today at once a god, a deity

pantheon, and the region’s autochthonous populations) against

affiliates of Odudua (an opposing deity, religious pantheon,

and newly arriving dynastic group). e Ikedu oral history text

addressing Ife’s history (an annotated kings list transposed from

the early Ife dialect; Akinjogbin n.d.) indicates that it was during

the reign of Ife’s th king—what appears to be two rulers prior

to the famous King Obalufon II (Ekenwa? Fig. )—that this vio-

lent civil war broke out. is conict weakened the city enough

so that there was little resistance when a military force under the

conqueror Oranmiyan (Fig. ) arrived in this historic city. e dis-

pute likely was framed in part around issues of control of Ife’s rich

manufacturing resources (glass beads, among these). Conceivably

it was one of Ife’s feuding polities that invited this outsider force to

come to Ife to help rectify the situation for their side.

As Akinjogbin explains (:), Oranmiyan and his calvary,

aer gaining control of Ife “… stemmed the … uprising by sid-

ing with the weaker … of the disunited pre-Oduduwa groups .…

[driving Obalufon II] into exile at Ilara



and became the Ooni.”

Eventually, the deposed King Obalufon II with the help of a

large segment of Ife’s population was able to defeat this military

leader and the latter’s supporters. In Ife today, Odudua is identi-

ed in ways that complement Oranmiyan. As Akintitan explains

(p.c.):



“It was Odudua who was the last to come to Ife, a man

who arrived as a warrior, and took advantage of the situation to

vol. 45, no. 4 Winter 2012 african arts

impose himself on Ife people.” King Obalufon II, who came to

rule twice at Ife, is positioned in local king lists both at the end

of the rst (Obatala) dynasty and at the beginning of the sec-

ond (Odudua) dynasty. He is also credited with bringing peace

(a negotiated truce) to the once feuding parties.

Political History and art at ancient ife

What or whom do these early arts depict? Many of the ancient

Ife sculptures are identied today with individuals who lived in

the era in which Ife King Obalufon II was on the throne and/

or participated in the civil war associated with his reign. is

and other evidence suggests that Obalufon II was a key spon-

sor or patron of these ancient arts, an idea consistent with this

king’s modern identity as patron deity of bronze casting, textiles,

regalia, peace, and wellbeing. It also is possible that a majority of

the ancient Ife arts were created in conjunction with the famous

truce that Obalufon II is said to have brokered once he returned

to power between the embattled Ife citizens as he brought peace

to this long embattled city (Adediran :; Akintitan p.c.).

As part of his plan to reunite the feuding parties, Obalufon II

also is credited with the creation of a new city plan with a large,

high-walled palace at its center. Around the perimeters, the

compounds of key chiefs from the once feuding lineages were

positioned. King Obalufon II seems at the same time to have

pressed for the erection of new temples in the city and the refur-

bishment of older ones, these serving in part to honor the lead-

ing chiefs on both sides of the dispute. Ife’s ancient art works

likely functioned as related temple furnishings.

One particularly art-rich shrine complex that may have come

into new prominence as part of Obalufon II’s truce is that hon-

oring the ancient hunter Ore, a deity whose name also features

in one of Obalufon’s praise names. Ore is identied both as an

important autochthonous Ife resident and as an opponent to

“Odudua.” A number of remarkable granite gures in the Ore

Grove were the focus of ceremonies into the mid-twentieth cen-

tury. One of these works called Olofefura (Fig. ) is believed to

represent the deied Ore (Dennett :; Talbot  :;

Allison :).



Features of the sculpture suggest a dwarf or

suerer of a congenital disorder in keeping with the identity of

many rst (Obatala) dynasty shrine gures with body anoma-

lies or disease. Regalia details also oer clues. A three-strand

choker encircles Olofefura’s neck; three bracelet coils embellish

the wrist; three tassels hang from the le hip knot. ese features

link this work—and Ore—to the earth, autochthony, and to the

Ogboni association, a group promoted by Obalufon II in part to

preserve the rights of autochthonous residents.

e le hip knot shown on the wrapper of this work, as well

as that of the taller, more elegant Ore Grove priest or servant

gure (Fig. ), also recalls one of Ife’s little-known origin myths

within the Obatala priestly family (Akintitan p.c.). According to

this myth, Obatala hid the ase (vital force) necessary for Earth’s

solidity within this knot, requiring his younger brother Odudua,

aer his the of materials from Obatala, to wait for the latter’s

help in completing the task. Consistent with this, Ogboni mem-

bers are said to tie their cloth wrappers on the le hip in mem-

ory of Obatala’s use of this knot to safeguard the requisite ase

(Owakinyin p.c.). Iron inserts in the coiure of the taller Ore g-

ure complement those secured in the surface of the Oranmiyan

sta (Fig. ), indicating that this sculpture—like many ancient

Ife works of stone—were made in the same era, e.g. the early

fourteenth century (see below).

An additional noteworthy feature of these gures, and others,

is the importance of body proportion ratios. Among the Yoruba

today, the body is seen to comprise three principal parts: head,

trunk, and legs (Ajibade n.d.:). Many Ife sculptural examples

(see Fig. ; compare also Figs. –) emphasize a larger-than-

life size scale of the head (orí) in relationship to the rest of the

body (a roughly : ratio). Yoruba scholars have seen this head-

privileging ratio as reinforcing the importance of this body part

as a symbol of ego and destiny (orí), personality (wú), essential

nature (ìwà), and authority (àse) (Abimbola :, Abio-

dun , Abiodun et. al :).



Or as Ogunremi suggests

(:), such features highlight: “e wealth or poverty of the

nation … [as] equated with the ‘head’ (orí) of the ruler of a par-

ticular locality.”

Both here and in ancient Ife art more generally, however, there

is striking variability in related body proportions. Such ratios

range from roughly : for the Ore grove deity gure (Fig. ), the

complete copper alloy king gure (Fig. ), the couple from Ita

1 Mask

Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Copper. Height: 33 cm

Retained in the palace since the time of its manufac-

ture (through the early twentieth century) where it

was identiﬁed as King Obalufon Alaiyemore (Obalu-

fon II). Nigeria National Museums, Lagos Mus. reg.

no. 38.1.2.

PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-

MISSION OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS, NIGERIA AND THE

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, NEW YORK

african arts Winter 2012 vol. 45, no.4

Yemoo (Fig. ), and many of the terracotta sculptures, to roughly

: for the taller stone Ore grove gures (Fig. ) and the copper

seated gure from Tada (Fig. ). Why these proportional dier-

ences exist in Ife art is not clear, but issues of class and/or status

appear to be key. Whereas sculptures of Ife royals and gods oen

show : ratios, most nonroyals show proportions much closer

to life. In ancient Ife art, the higher the status, the greater likeli-

hood that body proportions will dier from nature in ways that

greatly enhance the size of the head. is not only highlights the

head as a prominent status and authority marker, but also points

to the primacy of social dierence in visual rendering.

While many Ife (and Yoruba) scholars have focused on how

the head is privileged in relationship to the body, what also is

important, and to date overlooked, is that the belly is equally

important. e full, plump torsos (chest and stomachs) of Ife g-

ures depicting rulers and deities complement modern Yoruba

beliefs about health and well being on the one hand, and wealth

and power on the other. Related ideas are suggested by the mod-

ern Yoruba term odù (“full”) which, when applied to an indi-

vidual, means both “he has blessing in abundance” and “fortune

shines on him”(Idowu :). A full belly is vital to royals and

deities not only as a reference to qualities of wellbeing but also

as markers of state and religious fullness. In his extended discus-

sion of the concept of odù, the indigenous Ife religious scholar

Idowu notes (:) that the same term also indicates a “very

large and deep pot (container)” and by extension anything that

is of “sizable worth” and/or “superior quality.” is word features

centrally in the name for the high god, Ol-odù-marè. According

to Idowu (:) the latter use of the term signies “He is One

who is superlative,” odù here invoking his very extraordinari-

ness. Because large ceramic vessels called odù were employed in

ancient Ife contexts as containers for highly valued goods such as

beads and art (including the Ita Yemoo king gure, Fig. ), this

idiom oers an interesting modern complement and descriptor

for early Ife sculptural portrayals of gods and kings as contain-

ers holding many benets. A complementary feature of many

ancient Ife works is that of composure or inner calm (àìkominún,

“tranquility of the mind” in modern Yoruba; Abraham :).

is notable quality nds potential expression through the com-

plete repose shown in their faces of early Ife art (Figs. , , ), a

quality that increases the sense of monumentality and power in

these remarkable works.

e ancient Ife arts from Ife’s Ore shrine, which appear to have

been carved as a single sculptural group, include a stone vessel

with crocodiles on its sides (Fig. ). On its lid a frog (or toad)

is shown in the jaws of a snake. e latter motif references the

contestation between Obatala and Odudua for the center’s con-

trol (Akintitan p.c.; Adelekan p.c.). According Akintitan (p.c.),

this design addresses the less-than-straight manner in which

Odudua asserted control over Ife, since poisonous snakes are

(this page, l–r)

4 Sculpture of Ore (Olofefura; Olofefunra)

Ore Grove, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Granite; Height: 80 cm

Nigeria National Museums, Ife. Mus. reg.no. IF

63.1.6.

PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY,

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

5 Sculpture of Ore’s servant or priest

Ore Grove, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Granite; Height: 1.03m

Nigeria. National Museums, Lagos. Mus. reg. no.

136/61 E. Re-registered as IF 57.1.7.

PHOTO: SUZANNE PRESTON BLIER, 2008

(opposite)

8 Royal couple shown with interlocked feet and

arms

Ita Yemoo site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Copper alloy; Height: 286mm

Nigeria National Museums, Ife. Registration no.

57.1.1.

PHOTO: SUZANNE PRESTON BLIER 2004

vol. 45, no. 4 Winter 2012 african arts

thought not to consume frogs (and toads). e crocodile, like

several other animal gurations from this grove, honor Ore’s

hunting and fishing prowess. Carved crocodiles, giant eggs,

a mudsh (African lung sh), and an elephant tusk reference

the watery realm that dominated primordial Ife. A granite slab

from this same site shows evenly placed holes (Fig. ). is work

served perhaps as a real or metaphoric measuring device for

Ife’s changing water levels, in keeping both with frequent ood-

ing here (referenced in local accounts about Obalufon II’s wife

Queen Moremi) as well as Ife origin myths in which the Earth is

said to have been formed only aer Odudua sprinkled dirt upon

the water’s surface (Idowu , Blier ).

One especially striking art-rich Ife site that also seems to

have been identied with Obalufon II and his famous political

truce is Ita Yemoo, the term yemoo serving as the title for rst-

dynasty Ife queens. is temple complex lies near the site where

the annual Edi festival terminates. e Edi ritual is dedicated to

Obalufon II’s wife, Moremi, who also at one time was married to

Obalufon II’s adversary, the conqueror Oranmiyan. One of the

most striking works from Ita Yemoo is a copper alloy casting of a

king and queen (Fig. ) with interlocked arms and legs. e male

royal wears a simian skull on his hip, a symbol of Obatala (mon-

keys evoking the region’s early occupants) and this deity’s iden-

tity with Ife’s autochthonous residents and rst dynasty line. e

female points toward the ground, gesturing toward Odudua as

both second dynasty founder and later Yoruba earth god.



is

royal couple appears to reference in this way not only the painful

Ife dynastic struggle between competing Ife families and chiefs,

but also the political and religious marriage promoted by Obalu-

fon II between the these groups as part of his truce. Interestingly,

a steatite head recovered by Frobenius at Oa (Moremi’s home-

town north of Ife) wears a similar queen’s crown. Oa is adja-

cent to Esie where a group of similar steatite gures were found.



ese Esie works conceivably also were identied with Moremi,

the local heroine who became Ife’s queen.

A second copper alloy gure of a queen from the Ita Yemoo

site is a tiny sculpture showing a recumbent crowned female

circumscribing a vessel set atop a throne. She holds a scepter

in one hand; the other grasps the throne’s curving handle (Fig.

). Her seat depicts a miniature of the quartz and granite stools

identied in the modern era primarily with Ife’s autochthonous

(Obatala-linked) priests. e scepter that she holds is similar to

another work from Ita Yemoo depicting a man with unusual (for

Ife) diagonal cheek mark (Willett :Ma), a pattern simi-

lar to markings worn by northern Yoruba residents from Oa

among other areas. e recumbent queen’s unusual composi-

tion appears to reference the transfer of power at Ife from the

rst dynasty rulership group to the new (second) dynasty line

of kings, here symbolized through a queen, what appears to be

Queen Moremi, the wife of Obalufon II.

Another striking Ita Yemoo sculpture, a Janus sta mount

(Fig. ) shares similar symbolism. e work depicts two gagged

human heads positioned back-to-back, one with vertical line

facial marks, the other plain-faced, suggesting the union of two

dynasties (see below). is scepter likely was used as a club and

evokes both the punishment that befell supporters of either

dynastic group committing serious crimes and the unity of the

two factions in state rituals involving human oerings, among

these coronations. is scepter mount’s weight and heightened

arsenic content reinforces this identity. A larger Janus scepter

mount from this same site depicts on one side a youthful head

and on the other a very elderly man, consistent with two dier-

ent dynasty portrayals, and the complementary royal unica-

tion/division themes.

A large Ife copper gure of a seated male was recovered at

Tada (Fig. ), an important Niger River crossing point situated

some  km northeast of Ife. is sculpture is linked in impor-

tant ways not only to King Obalufon II, but also to Ife trade,

regional economic vitality, and the key role of this ruler in pro-

moting Ogboni (called Imole in Ife), the association dedicated

to both autochthonous rights and trade. e work is stylisti-

cally very similar to the Obalufon mask (Fig. ). Both are made

of pure copper and were probably cast by members of the same

workshop. Although the forearms and hands of the seated g-

ure are now missing, enough remains to suggest that they may

have been positioned in front of the body in a way resembling

the well-known Ogboni association gestural motif of le hand

sted above right (Fig. ). is same gesture is referenced in the

smaller standing gure (also cast of pure copper) from this same

Tada shrine (Fig. ). Obalufon descendant Olojudo rearmed

(p.c.) the gestural identity of the standing Tada gure. As I have

argued elsewhere () Yoruba works of copper are associated

primarily with Ogboni and Obalufon, consistent with the latter

ruler’s association with bronze casting and economic wellbeing.

Another notable Ogboni reference in these two copper works

from Tada is the diamond-patterned wrapper (Morton Williams

:, Aronson ) tied at the le hip with a knot.

How the ancient Ife seated sculpture (and other works) found

their way to this Tada shrine has been a subject of consider-

african arts Winter 2012 vol. 45, no.4

able scholarly debate. I concur with urstan Shaw in his view

(:) that these sculptures most likely were brought to this

critical river-crossing point because of the site’s identity with

Niger River trade. As Shaw notes (:) these works seem

to be linked to Yoruba commercial engagement along the Niger

River “… marking perhaps important toll or control points of

that trade.” Specically, the seated Tada gure oers important

evidence of Ife’s early control of this critical Niger River cross-

ing point. Copper alloy castings of an elephant and two ostriches

(animals identied with valuable regional trade goods) which

were found on this same Tada site likely reference the impor-

tance of ivory and exotic feathers in the era’s long distance trade.

e goddess Olokun (Fig. ) who spans both the rst and sec-

ond dynasty religious pantheons, is closely identied with pro-

moting related commerce.

contesting dynasties: Politics of tHe Body

Two copper alloy castings depicting royals (Figs. –)

oer important insight into early Ife society, politics, and his-

tory. One is the half-gure of a male from Ife’s Wunmonije site,

where a corpus of life-size copper alloy heads (Figs. –) was

unearthed. e other sculpture is the notably similar full-length

standing gure from the Ife site of Ita Yemoo, the locale where

the royal couple (Fig. ), tiny enthroned queen sculpture (Fig. ),

and metal scepter (Fig. ) were created.



Based on style and sim-

ilarities in form, the two works clearly were fashioned around the

same time, conceivably during Obalufon II’s reign. eir crowns

are dierent from the tall, conical, veiled are crowns worn by Ife

monarchs today. e latter crown a form also seen on the tiny Ife

gure of a king found in Benin (Fig. ).



Based on both their cap-form head coverings and the horn each

holds in the le hand, the gures have been identied as por-

traying rulers in battle (Odewale p.c.).



Not only are the rulers’

caps reminiscent of the smaller crowns (arinla) worn by Yoruba

rulers in battle, suggests Odewale (p.c.), but historically, ante-

lope horns similar to those carried in their le hands were used

in battle. ese horns were lled with powerful ase (authority/

force/command), substances that could turn the course of war in

one’s favor. When so lled, the horns assured that the king’s words

would come to pass, a key attribute of Yoruba statecra. e two

appear to be competitors (e.g. competing lineages) vying for the

Ife throne, references to the ruling heads of Ife’s rst (Obatala) and

second (Odudua) dynasties shown here in ritual battle.

While these two royal sculptures are very similar in style and

iconography, there are notable dierences, including the treat-

ment of the rulers’ faces—one showing vertical line marks, the

other lacking facial lines. ere are also notable distinctions in

headdress details, specically the diadem shapes and cap tiers.

e diadem of the Wunmojie king with striated facial marks

(Fig. ) displays a rosette pattern surmounted by a pointed

plume, this motif resting atop a concentric circle. e headdress

diadem on the plain-faced (unstriated) Ita Yemoo king gure

instead consists of a simple concentric circle surmounted by a

pointed plume. e rosette diadem of the king with facial stria-

tions seems to carry somewhat higher rank, for his diadem is set

above the disk-form, as if to mark superior position. Moreover,

the cap of the king with vertical facial markings integrates four

tiers of beads while the plain-faced king’s cap shows only three.

9 Bowl depicting a recumbent scepter-holding

queen atop a looping handle throne

Ita Yemoo Site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Copper alloy; Height: 121 mm

Nigeria National Museums, Lagos. no. L.92.58.

PHOTO: COURTESY FRANK WILLETT COLLECTION. HUNT-

ERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

11 Seated ﬁgure

Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Copper. Height: 53.7 cm

Found on a shrine in Tada, on the Niger River, 192

km. northeast of Ife. Nigeria National Museums,

Lagos: 79. R. 18.

PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-

MISSION OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS, NIGERIA AND THE

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, NEW YORK

12 Possible original gesture of seated ﬁgure from

Tada (Fig. 11).

DRAWING: SUZANNE PRESTON BLIER

vol. 45, no. 4 Winter 2012 african arts

ese dierences both in crown diadem shapes and bead rows

suggest that, among other things, the king bearing the vertical

line facial marks and rosette-form diadem (the Wunmonije site

ruler) carries a rank that is both dierent from and in some ways

higher than that of the plain-faced royal.

ere also are striking distinctions in facial marking and rega-

lia details of these two king gures, dierences that oer addi-

tional insight into the meaning and identity of these and other

works from this center. Similar rosette and concentric circle

diadem distinctions can be seen in many ancient Ife works. e

Aroye vessel (Fig. ), which displays rosette motifs and a mon-

strous human head referencing ancient Ife earth spirits (erun-

mole, imole; Odewale p.c.), may have functioned as a divination

vessel linked to Obatala, a form today in Ife that employs a

water-lled pot. e copper alloy head of rst dynasty Ife god-

dess Olokun (Fig. ) also incorporates a rosette with sixteen

petals. Ife chiefs and priests today sometimes wear beaded pen-

dants (peke) that incorporate similar eight-petal ower forms or

rosettes. ese individuals include a range of primarily Obatala

(rst dynasty) aliates: Obalale (the priest of Obatala), Obalase

(the Oluorogbo priest), Obalara (the Obalufon priest), and Chief

Woye Asire (the priest of Ife springs and markets.



Rosette-form

diadems such as these also can be seen on ancient Ife terracotta

animals identied with Obatala, among these the elephant (Fig.

) and duiker antelope heads from the Lafogido site. ese

rosettes suggest the importance of plants (owers), and the pri-

macy of ancient land ownership and gods to the Obatala group.

Concentric circle-form diadems, in contrast, seem to ref-

erence political agency as linked in part to the new Odudua

dynasty (Akintitan p.c., Adelekan p.c.). In part for this reason,

a concentric circle is incorporated into the iron gate at the front

of the modern Ife palace. Agbaje-Williams notes (:) that

the burial spots of important chiefs sometimes are marked with

stone circles as well. Concentric circle form diadems are dis-

played on the terracotta sculptures of ram and hippopotamus

heads from Ife’s Lafogido site. Both animals seem to be con-

nected to the Odudua line and the associated sky deity pantheon

of Sango among others (Idowu :, ; Matory :).

If, as Ekpo Eyo suggests (:; see also Eyo ) the group

of Lafogido site animal sculptures were conceived as royal

emblems, their distinctive crown diadems suggest that these

works, like the two king gures, were intended to represent two

dierent dynasties and/or the gods associated with them. e

king gure with vertical facial markings and a rosette-form dia-

dem instantiates the rst dynasty or Obatala rulership line. e

plain-faced ruler with concentric circle diadem evokes the sec-

ond or Odudua royal line.

Number symbolism in diadem and other forms is important

in these and other ancient Ife art works serving to mark grade

and status. According to Ife Obatala Chief Adelekan (p.c), eight-

petal rosettes are associated with higher Obatala grades. at

the Wunmonije king gure wears an eight-petal rosette (Fig. )

while the Aroye vessel (Fig. ) and Olokun head (Fig. ) incor-

porate sixteen-petal forms is based on power dierence. Eight is

the highest number accorded humans, suggests Chief Adelekan,

whereas sixteen is used for gods.



13 Standing ﬁgure

with top braid coiffure

and Ogboni associa-

tion gesture, 14th–15th

century

Copper; Height: 56.5

Found on the same

Tada shrine as Figure

11. Nigeria National

Museum, Enugu.

DRAWING: SUZANNE PRES-

TON BLIER

facial Marking distinctions:

ife as a cosMoPolitan center

One of the most striking dierences in the two royal gures

and other Ife arts can be seen in the variant facial markings.

Scholars have put forward several explanations for these facial

pattern disparities in Ife and early regional arts. Among the ear-

liest were William Fagg and Frank Willett (:), who iden-

tied vertical line facial marks with royal crown veils and the

“shadows” cast onto the face by associated strings of beads.



is

is highly unlikely, however, since many ancient works depicting

women and nonroyals without crowns display the same vertical

facial patterns. Moreover, of the two copper-alloy king gures

(Figs. –), only one shows vertical marks, and they both wear

a kind of cap (oro) that does not include a beaded veil. Modern

woodcarvings of Ife royals wearing traditional veiled crowns also

do not show vertical line facial marks. Due to related inconsis-

tencies, Willett would later retract his original shade-line theory

and Fagg would not again discuss this in his later scholarship. As

suggested above, the presence and lack of vertical facial marks

on the two Ife king gures further reinforces the identity of these

rulers as leaders of the two competing dynasties.



An array of early and later artistic evidence supports this.

Among these is a Lower Niger style vessel (Fig. ) collected near

Benin that displays a human face with vertical markings beneath

the head of an elephant, an animal that in Ife is closely identi-

ed with Obatala and the rst dynasty. is elephant head has its

complement in the Lafogido site terracotta elephant head with

a rosette-form diadem (Fig. ), a site where a terracotta head

african arts Winter 2012 vol. 45, no.4

with vertical facial marks also was buried (Eyo ). Nineteenth

and early twentieth century royal masks of the Igala (a Yoruba-

linked group) associated with the ancient Akpoto dynasty (who

are ancestors of the current Igala rulers), display similar thin

vertical line facial markings referencing the early royals of this

group (Sargent :; Boston :) (Fig. ). e ancient

Ife terracotta head that represents Obalufon I (Osangangan Oba-

makin, the father of Obalufon II) displays vertical marks (Fig.

) consistent with the king’s rst-dynasty associations. Verti-

cal line facial marks such as these appear to reference Ife royals

(as well as other elites) and ideas of autochthony more gener-

ally.



e fact that some  percent of the ancient Ife terracotta

heads and gures show vertical line facial markings suggests

how important this group still was in the early second dynasty

era when these works were commissioned. e second largest

grouping of Ife terracotta works—around  percent—show no

facial markings at all, in keeping with modern Ife traditions for-

bidding facial marking for members of Ife resident families.

Ife oral tradition maintains that facial marking practices were

at one point outlawed. Accordingly, late nineteenth to early

twentieth century art and cultural practices display a strong

aversion to facial marks of any type. Most likely it was Ife King

Obalufon II who helped promote this change aer his return to

power as part of his plan for a more lasting truce. is change,

and the need sometimes to cover one’s historical family and

dynastic identity for reasons of political expediency, is also sug-

gested by two masks, one of terracotta and one of copper, both

identied with Obaufon II. One of these (Fig. ) is plain-faced

and the other (Fig. ) has prominent vertical markings. Con-

sistent with Obalufon II’s role in bringing to Ife, and serving as

a key early art patron, his association with masking forms that

shield (cover) the identities of the once-competing Ife groups is

noteworthy. Like a majority of ancient Ife sculptures with and

without facial marks, these works appear to date to the same

period, underscoring the fact that dierent groups were living

together at Ife at this time.

Like the Wunmonije king gure (Fig. ), the bronze head

associated with the goddess Olokun (Fig. ) also has vertical

facial marks and a rosette-decorated crown. Olokun, the ancient

Ife nance minister and later commerce, bead, and sea god, is

said to date to Ife’s rst dynasty. e copper alloy head now in

the British Museum, with both vertical facial marks and a con-

centric circle diadem, appears to reference a chief in one of Ife’s

autochthonous lineages (e.g. a number of rst dynasty elite) who

lived in Ife in the early second dynasty era before the ban on

facial marking took eect.

14 Head with crown

Olokun grove site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th

century

Copper alloy; Height: 343 mm

Nigeria National Museums, Ife.

PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-

MISSION OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS, NIGERIA AND THE

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, NEW YORK

15 Figure of a king

Wunmonije site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Copper alloy. Height: 370 mm.

National Museums, Lagos. Museum registration no.

13, then 79.R.9. Renumbered 38.1.1.

PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-

MISSION OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS, NIGERIA AND THE

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, NEW YORK

16 Figure of a king

Ita Yemoo site. Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Copper alloy. Height: 473 mm.

National Museums, Lagos. Registry no. 79.R.12 and

L.86.58.

PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-

MISSION OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS, NIGERIA AND THE

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, NEW YORK

vol. 45, no. 4 Winter 2012 african arts

Several Ife heads show thick vertical facial lines. ese marks

seem to depict individuals participating in rituals in which blis-

ter beetles or leaves (from the bùjé plant) were employed to mark

the face with short-term patterns on the skin (Willett :Fig.

). ese temporary “marks” may have served as references to

rst dynasty elites or their descendants during certain Ife rituals

(Owomoyela n.d. n.p.; Willett :Figs. –, pl. ; see also dis-

cussion in Fagg and Willett :, Drewal :– n. ).

Interestingly, sculptures depicting these thick lines characteristi-

cally show ared nostrils and furled brows, suggesting the pain

that accompanied facial blistering practices such as these. Sev-

eral Florescence Era Ife terracotta heads (roughly  percent of the

whole) display three elliptical “cat whisker” facial marks at the cor-

ners of the mouth (Fig. ) similar to those associated with more

recent northeastern Yagba Yoruba, a group who later came under

Nupe rule.



In one such sculpture, the marks extend into the

cheeks in a manner consistent with later Yoruba abaja facial mark-

ings, indicating an historic connection between the two.



Accord-

ing to Andrew Apter (p.c.), a group of Yagba Yoruba occupy an

Ife ward where the Iyagba dialect is still sometimes spoken. Most

historic Yagba communities are found in the Ekiti Yoruba region

where early iron working sites have been found (Obayemi :,

).



It is possible that Ife’s Yagba population was involved in

complementary iron-working and smelting activities at this cen-

ter. is tradition also oers interesting insight into Benin gures

holding blacksmith tools with three similar facial marks, works

said to depict messengers from Ife.

A rather unusual Janus gure from ancient Ife shows a man

with diagonal facial markings similar to those of historic and

modern Igbo Nri titleholders, suggesting the role a similar group

may have played in early Ife as well. Today it is Chief Obawinrin,

head of Ife’s Iwinrin lineage, who represents Ife’s historic Igbo

population during the annual Ife Edi festival. Associated rites

are in part dedicated to Obalufon II’s wife, Queen Moremi, who

17 Figure of Ife king

Found in Benin palace, c.

early 14th century

Copper alloy. Height: 124

Nigeria. National Museums,

Benin. Museum reg. no. 17.

PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN

MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY, UNI-

VERSITY OF GLASGOW

18 Vessel with monstrous

face and sixteen rosette

patterns around the surface,

some with mica centers

Aroye compound, Ile-Ife,

Nigeria, c. early 14th cen-

tury

Terracotta; Height:178 mm

Unregistered when photo-

graphed

PHOTO: COURTESY HUNT-

ERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW

is credited with stopping local Igbo (Ugbo) groups attacking Ife

in the era in which she lived.



Today Igbo residents also live in

nearby regions south of Ife, among these communities such as

Ijale (Abimbola p.c., Lawal p.c., Awolalu :).



ese Ife-

area Igbo populations appear to be distant relatives of autoch-

thonous Igbo families, many of whom were forced out of the city

by members of the new Odudua dynasty.



Sculptures from Ife’s

Iwinrin Grove, an Ife site closely linked to Ife’s “Igbo” population,

characteristically show vertical line facial markings consistent

with works linked to rst dynasty Ife history and autochthony.

Another  percent of Ife sculptures portray Edo (Benin) style

facial marks (forehead keloids) or patterns today characteristic of

northeastern Yoruba/Nupe communities (a diagonal cheek line

and/or vertical forehead line). e remaining  percent of the

extant Ife terracotta works show unusual “mixed” facial patterns

(generally “cat whisker” motifs along with other forms). ese

marks may reference intermarriages (social or political) at Ife in

the early years of the new dynasty. e notable variety of these

facial patterns in ancient Ife art makes clear the center’s impor-

tance as a cosmopolitan city sought out by people arriving from

various regional centers. Features of Ife cosmopolitanism revealed

in part through these variant facial markings are consistent with

Ife’s identity as a center of manufacturing and trade. Similar issues

are raised in Ife origin myths that identify this city as the home

(birthplace) of humans of multiple races and ethnicities.

a corPus of reMarkaBle coPPer Heads Personifying

local ife cHiefs

A striking group of life-size copper and copper alloy heads

(Figs. –) was unearthed in the s at the Wunmonije site

behind the Ife palace along with the above-discussed king gure

(Fig. ).



In addition to the original corpus of een life-size

heads from this site, a clearly related . inch high fragment of

a copper alloy head consisting of a portion of a face showing a

african arts Winter 2012 vol. 45, no.4

nose and part of a mouth also was collected at an estate in Ado-

Ekiti and has been described as “identical with those from Wun-

monije” (Werner and Willett : facing p. ).

ese sixteen life-size heads appear to have been created as part

of the truce that Obalufon II established between the embattled

Ife residents. One of the heads (Fig. ) indeed is so similar to the

Obalufon mask as to depict the same individual.



Frank Willett,

who published photographs of many of the life-size metal heads

in his monograph on Ife, suggests (:–) that these works

had important royal mortuary functions in which each was dis-

played with a crown and robes of oce, in the course of ceremo-

nies following each ruler’s death.



Willett proposes further that

the heads were commissioned as memorial sculptures (ako) con-

sistent with a later era Ife and Yoruba tradition of carved wooden

ako egy gures used in commemorating deceased hunters. is

theory, which identies the corpus of life-size cast heads as egies

of successive rulers of the Ife city state, however, is premised on an

idea (now largely discredited; see also Lawal :.) that the

works were made by artists over a several-hundred-year period

(the reigns of sixteen monarchs). is theory is problematic not

only because the styles and material features of the heads are con-

sistent, but also because the heads were found together (divided

into two groups) and share a remarkably similar condition apart

from blows that some of them received during their discovery. e

shared condition indicates that they were interred for a similar

length of time and under similar circumstances.

e formal similarities in these heads have led most scholars,

myself included (Blier ), to argue that the works were cre-

ated in a short period of time and by fewer than a handful of art-

ists.



With respect to style, as urstan Shaw notes (:), “…

they are of a piece and look like the work of one generation, even

perhaps a single great artist.” ese heads, I posited in this same

article, were cast in part to serve as sacred crown supports and

used during coronation rituals for a group of powerful Ife chiefs

who head the various core rst and second dynasty lineages in the

city.



ese rites appear also to have been associated with Obalu-

fon since related priests have a role in Ife coronations still today.

e site where the heads were found today is identied as Obalu-

fon II’s burial site (Eyo :n.p.). Ife Chief Obalara (Obalufon II’s

descendant and priest) crowns each new monarch at a Obalufon

shrine (Igbo Obalara) near the Obatala temple a short distance

from here (Verger :, Fabunmi :, Eluyemi :).

Today, when a descendant of King Obalufon wishes to commis-

sion shrine arts in conjunction with his worship, two copper alloy

heads, one plain faced, the other with vertical line facial markings,

are created (Oluyemi p.c.) (Fig. ).

Some of these ancient Ife life-size heads have plain faces. Oth-

ers show vertical lines. ese facial marking variables support the

likely use of these heads in coronations and other rites associated

with the powerful early Ife rst- and second-dynasty-linked chiefs

who were brought together as part of Obalufon II’s truce. e

grouping of these heads, which in many ways also resemble the

Obalufon mask (Fig. ), together reference (and honor) the leaders

of key families (now seen as orisa or gods) who had participated

in this conict. Obalufon II also created a new city plan as part of

this truce, one in which the homesteads of these lineage leaders

were relocated to sites circumscribing the center of Ife and its pal-

ace (Blier ). In the eighteenth–nineteenth centuries, when the

city came under attack, the heads appear to have been buried for

safe keeping near their original shrine locale aer many centuries

of use and their location eventually forgotten.

ere are several ways that the heads could have been dis-

played in early Ife ritual contexts, among these earthen step-

form altars and tall supports similar to one photographed with

heads in Benin in the late nineteenth century (Fig. ). e latter

sta would account for the presence of holes near the bases of

these works. Wooden mounts such as those known today here

as ako were fashioned to commemorate Ife elephant hunters.

ese also could have been used for display purposes. A perhaps

related Ijebu-Ode known as okute and discussed by Ogunba

(:) features roughly -foot wooden stas with a symbolic

human head. ese pole-like forms were secured in the ground

and “dressed” during annual rites commemorating early (rst

dynasty) rulers of the region.

21 Benin (Lower Niger Style) vessel details, 17th–

19th century

Copper alloy; Height 5.5 mm

Two sides of copper alloy vessel with two heads sur-

mounted by regalia motifs. The face with vertical line

facial marks is surmounted by an elephant.

LING-ROTH 1900: FIGS. 64–65

vol. 45, no. 4 Winter 2012 african arts

22 Mask with vertical line marks

Igala, 19th–20th century

Wood; Height: 35 cm

Nigeria National Museums, Kaduna. After Eyo

1977:194

DRAWING: SUZANNE PRESTON BLIER

23 Head with vertical line facial marks

Osangangan Obamakin Shrine, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c.

early 14th century

Terracotta; Height: 140 mm

Said to represent Osangangan Obamakin. Mus. reg.

no. 30. Renumbered 49.1.18.

PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW

A striking terracotta vessel (Fig. ) buried at the center of an

elaborate potsherd pavement at Obalara’s Land, an Ife site long

aliated with the Obalufon family, also oers clues important

to early display contexts of these heads. is vessel incorporates

the depiction of a shrine featuring a naturalistic head with verti-

cal line striations anked by two cone-shaped motifs described

by Garlake (:) as crowns. e scene seems to portray an

Obalufon altar with dierent types of crowns and a an array of

Obalufon and Ogboni ritual symbols that nd use in corona-

tions, among these edan Ogboni, consistent with the use of the

Ife life-size heads in chiey and royal enthronements overseen

by the center’s Obalufon priesthood.

In a community outside of Ife, I learned of an important tradi-

tion that oers additional insight into this corpus of ancient Ife life

size heads. In the local Obalufon shrine are found sixteen copper

alloy heads. While I was unable to see these works, in the course

of several interviews with the elderly temple chief, I learned a con-

siderable amount about them. He described them as erunmole

(imole, earth spirits).



is identity underscores the likely asso-

ciation of the heads as sacred icons honoring ongoing oces and/

or titles (Abiodun :) rather than simple portraits (i.e. refer-

ences to a specic person) (Underwood :nos. , , ).

Consistent with this, each of the sixteen copper alloy heads

located in this rural Obalufon temple is said by the priest to

have been identied with a “powerful” individual from Ife’s dis-

tant past who was subsequently deied, among these Oramfe

(the thunder god), Obatala (god of the autochthonous resi-

dents), Oluorogbo (the early messenger deity), Obalufon (King

Obalufon II), Oranmiyan (Obalufon’s adversary, the military

conqueror), Obameri (an ancient warrior associated with both

dynasties), and Ore (the autochthonous Ife hunter). These

names harken back to important early personages and gods in

the era of Obalufon II and the Ife civil war when the Ife life-size

metal heads were made.



e descendants and priests of these

ancient heroes still play a role in the ritual life of this center. As

explained to me by the priest of this temple: “ese imole are six-

teen in number, all sixteen heads are kings [Oba, here meaning

also deied chiefs], the sixteen kings of erunmole.” e Ogboni

association, of which this rural priest also was a member, simi-

larly comprise here sixteen core members (titled ocers). Lisa

Aronson (:) notes for the Yoruba center of Ijebu-Odu

that nearly  percent of the chiefs in this center are members

of Ogboni. ere are other connections between the tradition

of Obalufon metal heads honoring historic leaders and Ogboni

arts. Not only are a majority of modern Yoruba copper alloy

sculptures identied with both Ogboni and Obalufon, but the

“sticks” (stas) said to be secured to the modern Obalufon heads

during display (Oluyemi p.c.), a ritual and aesthetic continuum

extending back to the ancient Ife Florescence Era.

*As with the two Ife king gures (Figs. –), dierences in

the ancient Ife life-size heads’ facial markings and other features

oer additional insight to their identity and meaning. Half of

these sixteen life-size metal heads display vertical line marks that

I have identied with autochthonous (rst dynasty) elites; the

others have plain faces complementing the new dynasty’s denun-

ciation of facial marking. As explained to me by the priest at the

rural Obalufon temple where the grouping of copper alloy heads

were housed: “there were sixteen crowns in the olden days, eight

tribal and eight nontribal.” In using the term “tribal” here, he is

referring to Ife’s autochthonous residents. Like the new city plan

created by Obalufon II as part of his truce, these heads give pri-

macy to the display and sharing of power by lineage heads of

both dynasties.

Other features of these works also are important. A majority

of the plain-faced heads, but not the striated ones, include holes

around the beard line probably for the attachment of an arti-

cial beard of beads or hair. In the twentieth century, beards in

Yoruba art oen identify important leaders, priests, and others

by signaling senior age status and rank.



Because all the plain-

faced heads include beard holes, but only a few with facial mark-

ings do, the plain-faced works seem to be linked to power and/

or status dierent than that of the heads with vertical facial lines.

e non-bearded heads conceivably reference ritual status and

sacral power consistent with Obatala lineages today; the bearded

african arts Winter 2012 vol. 45, no.4

heads instead seem to convey ideas of lineage leadership and

political status consistent with the center’s new rulership line.



Interestingly, four of the eight heads with facial lines are—like

the Obalufon mask (Fig. ) and the two of the Tada gures (Figs.

, )—cast of nearly pure copper (.–. percent), a feat that

artists of ancient Greece and Rome, the Italian Renaissance, and

Chinese bronze casters never achieved. e pure copper heads in

this way dier materially from the stylistically similar heads that

incorporate sizable amounts of alloys along with the copper (the

associated copper content ranging from .–.percent).



majority of the latter are without vertical facial lines. e ve

nearly-pure copper heads additionally contain no detected zinc,

a mineral that in the copper alloy heads ranges from .–.

percent.



Since half of the nearly- pure copper striated heads

(two of the four) have beard holes, this small subset of works

may have been intentionally dierentiated in order to identify

chiefs of both sacred and political status. One of these pure cop-

per heads additionally displays red and black lines around the

eyes (Fig. ). is feature is said by Adedinni (p.c.) to iden-

tify a “most powerful person,” someone who is also a powerful

imole (sacral power). To Obatala diviner Akintitan (p.c.), these

eye surrounding lines reference someone who “can really see,”

i.e., a person with unique access to the supernatural power that

imbues one with spiritually charged insight.

Metal dierences in these heads also carry important color dif-

ferences that were signicant to the ancient Ife patrons and art-

ists. e pure copper works would have been redder, while those

made from copper alloys were more yellow. e redder, nearly

pure copper heads may have been linked to ideas of heightened

potency or danger. And since casting pure copper is technically

far more dicult than casting copper with alloy mixtures, the

former heads also display greater skill, challenge, and risk on

the part of the artist, attributes no doubt important to the mean-

ings of these heads as well. is material feature, in short, also

gives them special iconic power. e use of nearly pure copper

in these works suggests not only how knowledgeable Ife artists

were in the materials and technologies of casting, but also how

willing they were to take related risks to achieve specic visual

and symbolic ends in these works.

dating ancient ife art

How do the diverse forms and meanings of Ife’s early arts

inform dating and other related questions? Dating ancient Ife

art has posed many challenges to scholars, largely because many

of these artifacts come from secondary sites, rather than from

contexts that can be dated scientically to the period when the

works were made and rst used (e.g. primary sites). While devel-

oping a chronology of Ife art has proven dicult, several schema

have been published in recent decades. Following the late Eko

Eyo, some Ife scholars have utilized the term “Pavement Era”

(and concomitantly “Pre-Pavement” and “Post-Pavement” peri-

ods) to distinguish those art works that are linked to the period

of Ife’s famous potsherd pavements. However, because these

pavements are still seen (and used) in abundance in the center

today, and in some cases reveal several dierent construction

periods, the term “Pavement Era” is problematic. Ife historian

Akinjogbin instead takes up (:) local temporal terms to

discuss Ife chronology. Without attributing dates, he notes that

one such local term, Osangangan Obamakin, in some situations

designates Ife King Obalufon I (the father of Obalufon II) and in

others the early (rst) dynasty with which he was aliated ....”



Drewal ([:] :) has attempted a temporal ordering

of ancient Ife sculpture based on dierences in media (stone vs.

terracotta or metal) and/or assumed “expressive” qualities, but

this has been dismissed by archaeologists due to contradictory

evidence from related sites.



Yoruba archaeologist Akin Ogundiran (:–, )

provides a more scientically grounded chronology for Ife and

the broader area.



His overview of artifact remains and other

sources contributes to my own Ife chronology, one that combines

24 Mask with vertical line facial markings

Obalufon temple site (Obalara’s Compound), Ile-Ife,

Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Terracotta. Height: 32 cm

Obafemi-Awolowo University. Exc. no. OC2.

PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW

25 Head with “cat whisker” marks

Olokun Walode site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th

century

Terracotta; Height: 127 mm

Nigeria National Museums, Ife. Mus. reg. no. 67/16

S. Renumbered IF 67.1.5.

PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW

vol. 45, no. 4 Winter 2012 african arts

27 Life-size head without facial markings, beard line

holes

Wunmonije Site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century

Copper alloy; Height: 290 mm

National Museums, Ife. Museum registration, no. 9.

Renumbered 38.1.9.

PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-

MISSION OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS, NIGERIA AND THE

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, NEW YORK

28 Life-size head with thin vertical line facial marks,

no beard line holes, pigment lines around the eyes

Wunmonije Compound site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early

14th century

Copper; Height: 299 mm; Weight: 6.8 kg

Nigeria National Museums, Ife. Museum registration

no. 6.

PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-

MISSION OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS, NIGERIA AND THE

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, NEW YORK

29 Benin. Cast metal heads atop iron “tree.” Benin,

Nigeria

VON LUSCHAN 1897:PL.515

archaeological with stylistic, oral historical, and other data. For some periods, however,

I employ dierent terms and distinguishing features than does Professor Ogundiran.

Most signicantly, I have simplied this chronology into three main periods (with sub-

groupings) using the term Florescence (cultural “owering”) for the period of Ife’s major

artistic and cultural innovation, along with periods prior to (pre-Florescence) and fol-

lowing (post-Florescence) this era. An early Ife date of c.  . purportedly based on

radiocarbon (Folster in Ozanne :), cited by both Ogundiran (, p.c.) and Dre-

wal (:), has been rejected by Frank Willett () and others for lack of support-

ing scientic evidence. I concur with this assessment.



e main art-producing era of early Ife, what I dene as the Florescence Period

(Ogundiran’s Classical Period) is distinguished by both roulette- and cord-decorated

ceramics. Within a relatively short time span in this period, what I identify as Ife’s High

Florescence, most of the early arts appear to have been made. One can date this period

to c. –  based on a range of factors, including the thermoluminescence tests

of key metal works and the likely reign era of Obalufon II as delimited in Ife oral his-

tories and king lists. It is this era that appears to mark the beginning of the “Odudua”

or second dynasty of Ife. Associated with this High Florescence era are arts not only in

“bronze” (Fig. ) and stone (Fig. ), but also terracotta (Fig. ).

e above time frame is consistent with the dating for Ife and its arts by Peter Garlake

(:), based on his excavations at the Obalara’s Land and Woye Asiri sites, both of

which are closely linked to King Obalufon II whose descendant and current priest is

Chief Obalara. From work Garlake undertook at the Obalara Land site, he would pub-

lish ve radiocarbon dates reecting three likely phases. e rst is an initial occupation

period of circa the twelh century . e second phase constitutes a c. fourteenth cen-

tury occupation period identied with the laying of the pavements, the creation of an

array of sculptures, along with the site’s eventual fourteenth–eenth century abandon-

ment. e third and nal phase at the Obalara Land site consists of Post-Florescence era

nds subsequent to the main site occupation and abandonment.



Garlake’s recalibrated radicarbon dates (:) for the Ita Yemoo site layer of terra-

cotta sculptures excavated by Willett indicate a period potentially coeval with the radio-

carbon dates of the Obalara’s Land sculptures (– ). As Garlake observes for

this important and diverse group of terracottas (:): “… on the dating evidence

presently available, it seems that Obalara’s Land was occupied at the same time as Ita

Yemoo although it is likely, but not certain, that Ita Yemoo was rst occupied at an ear-

lier date than Obalara’s Land.” e likely period of overlap between these two sites is

african arts Winter 2012 vol. 45, no.4

– , or what I posit as the High Florescence Era. er-

moluminescence dates for the clay cores extracted from two of

the Wunmonije site life-size heads indicate a similar period of

–  (Willett :). is period also is consistent with

the likely reign era of Ife King Obalufon II. is dating addition-

ally conforms with this king’s identity as the ruler who intro-

duced bronze casting at Ife. A majority of Ife’s ancient arts thus

were created in a relatively short time period, within a single

generation of artists, in the early fourteenth century.

An in-depth analysis of ancient Ife sculptural style by art

historian Barbara Blackmun (n.d. in Willett ) reveals that

works from a variety of Ife sites show discernable clusters of sim-

ilarity consistent with artists working within the same broader

time frame. Signicantly, Garlake also furnishes evidence (,

) that Ife’s High Florescence Era came to a relatively quick

end, a change accompanied by a notable shi in pottery decora-

tion forms, specically from roulette to cord impressions (see

also Shaw :).

Possible outside confirmation for this Ife early fourteenth

century High Florescence Era is found in a well-known (but

unexplored for the Yoruba) written source, namely Ibn Bat-

tûta’s – travel account. Here we read (:–) that

southwest of the Mâlli (Mali) kingdom lies a country called Yoû

[Ife?]



that is one of the “most considerable countries of the

Soudan [governed by a] …souverain [who] is one of the great-

est kings.”



Battûta’s description of Yoû as a country that “No

white man can enter … because the negros will kill him before

he arrives” appears to reference the ritual primacy long associ-

ated with Ife, in keeping with its important manufacturing and

mercantile interests, among these advanced technologies of glass

bead manufacturing, iron smelting and forging, and textile-pro-

duction. Blue-green segi beads



from Ife have been found as far

west as Mali, Mauritania, and modern Ghana, suggesting that

Battuta may well have learned of this center in the course of his

travels in Mali.

ere also appears to be a reference to Ife on a  Spanish

trade map known as the Catalan Atlas. is can be seen in the

name Rey de Organa, i.e. King of Organa (Obayemi :),

associated with a locale in the central Saharan region. While the

geography is problematic, as was oen the case in maps from

this era, the name Organa resonates with the title of early Ife rul-

ers, i.e. Ogane (Oghene, Ogene; Akinjogbin n.d.). e same title

is found in a late eenth-century account by the Portuguese

seafarer Joao Afonso de Aveiro (in Ryder :), document-

ing Benin traditions about an inland kingdom that played a role

in local enthronement rituals. While the identity of this inland

ruler also is debated, Ife seems to be the most likely referent (see

ornton , among others).

30 On vessel from Obalara’s Land, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Terracotta

Detail of shrine showing head with vertical line facial

marks, ﬂanked by two conical forms

PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW

Ancient Ife art works, as we have seen, are works not only of

great visual power, striking beauty, and rare technical accom-

plishment, but also objects that speak to core issues of history

and politics in this early center. As such these sculptures oer

unique and critical insight into the social fabric of the city. Look-

ing at the complex visual codes of these remarkable objects

through details of body form and proportion, gesture, facial

marking, material properties, regalia form, animal symbolism,

site locations, oral history, mapping and traveler accounts, as

well as modern day Ife beliefs and rituals about this center and

its arts allows us to see these ancient Ife works as a vital part of

the city’s early history. e artists of these works clearly were

interested in the sculptural meanings being known, and through

an in-depth analysis of the variant symbolic formula at play, we

now have a much better understanding of both this important

early city and its arts.

S P B is

Notes

is article is drawn in part from a forthcoming book

on Ife art, Art and Risk in Ancient Yoruba: Identity and

Politics at Ife, c.   (Cambridge University Press,

forthcoming) framed in part around questions of art and

risk at this ancient center (Blier ). I wish to thank

the Center of African Studies at Harvard University

for travel support and partial image funding and the

Radclie Institute for Advanced Study where much of

the writing took place. I also wish to thank Allen Roberts

for his thoughtful comments on an earlier version of

this article along with the many scholars who read parts

of the larger text, and have discussed related questions

with me over the last decade. Among these are Wande

Abimbola, Rowland Abiodon, Biodun Adediran, Andrew

Apter, Barbara Blackmun, Ekpo Eyo, Barry Hallen, Bassi

Irele, Babatunde Lawal, Akin Ogundiran, Ikem Okoye,

Nike Okundaiye, Randy Matory, Peter Morton-Williams,

Adisa Ogunfolakin, Jacob Olupona, Prita Meier, Peter

Probst, Nicolas Robertson, J.D.Y. Peel, John Picton, Peter

Probst, Michael Rowlands, Christina Strava, and Robert

Farris ompson. I also want to thank the many Nigerian

museum ocials who aorded me the opportunity to

examine objects in their collections, among these, Mayo

Adediran, Edita Okunke and Bode Adesina. I also owe

a debt to various institutions that allowed me to publish

related photographs, the National Commission on

Monuments and Museums (specically Directors Joseph

Eborieme and Abdallah Yusuf Usman), the Museum

vol. 45, no. 4 Winter 2012 african arts

for African Art (Carol Braide and Lisa Binder) and the

Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery (Graham Nisbet).

Finally I owe a special debt to his Royal Highness, Oba

Aderemi Adeniyi-Adedapo, the Olojudo-Alayemore, the

King of Ido Osun and a descendant of Ife King Obaluron

II as well as His Imperial Highness, Aláyélùwà Oba Oku-

nadé Síjúwadé, Olúbúşe II, e Ooni of Ife

1 In addition to scouring archives in Europe and

the US, I also undertook a number of short focused

eld research trips to Ife from  to . Prior to

this I had lived and worked for two years in a Yoruba

community (Savé in Benin Republic) while in the Peace

Corps. My earlier Yoruba experiences are addressed in

several articles (Blier , , b). My research on

various aspects of early Ife art are taken up in a diversity

of publications (Blier , , , a, a–b,

forthcoming).

Scholars who have undertaken research within

the metropolitan Ife area on these ancient arts have

included, most importantly, Leo Frobenius, William

Bascom, Frank Willett, Ekpo Eyo, Peter Garlake, Dierk

Lange, and Babatude Lawal. Yoruba scholars David

Doris and Moyo Okedeji have done research at Ife on

more recent art traditions. Other scholars also have

published on early Ife artistic traditions, among these,

Robert Farris ompson who has explored historic

crown traditions and other forms (, ). Henry

Drewal (, , ) draws largely on research in

the Yoruba center of Ketu while he was a PhD student

at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College program as

well as later work in the Ijebu area with research partner

Margaret ompson Drewal for his Ife writings for

his Ife writings ( [, ]). Edith Platte, the

late specialist in Hausa cultural practices, integrates

her insights of German traveler Leo Frobenius in her

analysis () of an object in the British Museum.

Jacob Olupona’s recent book () on Ife religion

provides insight on this culture. Alisa LaGamma has

brought ancient Ife art into a broader discussion ()

of African leadership. In many ways, Leo Frobenius’

early Ife scholarship still remains important despite his

problematic collection practices and Atlantis claims;

more recently Dierk Lange () has sought to link

ancient Ife to the Canannites for which evidence seems

similarly lacking.

2 Not only are these forms oen multivaliant,

but proverbs, like other verbal arts, are formulated at

specic places and times to address related issues and

contexts. is is also true for both Ifa divination verses

and praise songs. To take but one comparative example,

the English rhyme “Ring Around the Rosy” has its roots

in the traumatic circumstances of the Black Plague (c.

). To use this rhyme indiscriminatingly to address

ower motifs in art works from early (or later) eras

would be problematic.

3 Obalara’s Land(?). In other words, the lands

identied with the king (Oba) of Ilara. e latter per-

haps is a reference to the important archaeological site

situated to the west of Ife which was excavated by Peter

Garlake (, ).

 P.c. designates “personal communication” and

references specic interviews undertaken by the author

in Ile-Ife. I have included this list with the bibliography.

5 Murray and Willett identify this gure as Ore’s

servant (:). Hambly refers to the larger Ore g-

ure, the so-called Idena gure, as Olofefunra.

6 Several Yoruba scholars have suggested that

ideas of beauty closely parallel character (iwa, “essential

nature”: Abimbola :–, :; Drewal et al.

:, ; Lawal ) and specically the relationship

with outer and inner beauty (ewa ode versus ewa inu) in

Yoruba aesthetics. Others, among these Jacob Olupona

(p.c.), have questioned this, based in part on word

translation.

7 Discussions with Peter Morton-Williams (p.c.)

oer conrming evidence for this reading of the Ita

Yemoo couple. Independently a similar conclusion for

this sculpture’s referents was made by Lange ().

8 Plausibly these Esie works were commissioned

in this era to honor Moremi both as Oa’s native daugh-

ter and as Ife’s famous Queen and new dynasty mother.

9 Part of the clay cores of both gures were tested

through thermoluminescence. Reecting these nd-

ings, Willett and Fleming (:) would date the Ita

Yemoo works to “an early fourteenth century dating….”

10 Willett :M.a, b. is gure is said to have

been sent to the Benin court by an Ife ruler as a model

of casting expertise (Fagg ; :). On the face of

this tiny royal gure, snakes appear to be shown emerg-

ing from the nostrils, a motif sometimes associated with

Obalufon in related later era arts.

11 is interpretation contrasts with that of Ife’s

monarch, King Adesoji Aderemi, who, on viewing the

royal gure from Ita Yemoo, identied it as a ruler in

coronation attire (Willett :).

12 Signicantly, today Obatala is included within

the sky god group, however, in many ways this deity is

more closely associated with ancient land control. is

is also true for the Ife Obatala-linked gods such as Woye

Asiri (springs and markets), Orisa Teko (agriculture),

and Baba Siguidi (healing and war) .

13 e number sixteen here and in other contexts

suggests divine authority, as seen not only in the num-

ber of principal Yoruba gods, Ifa divination signs (odu),

and early sanctied Yoruba city-states.

14 Schildkrout (:) employs this same argu-

ment, though without citation, in her recent theory.

She uses the presence of a black bead in a facial hole of

one of the copper alloy heads as support for veil theory

concerning facial marking. However, not only is this a

later era (post-Florescence) bead, but its presence here

more likely references the added bead-decorated beard

or crown. Schildkrout notes (ibid.) that “... no Ife works

show attachments for headgear with veils or face cover-

ings, to the contrary, however, all of the life size metal

heads have holes around the crown line where beaded

elements could easily have been secured. Within the

larger corpus of “traditional” African art, including that

of the Yoruba, the depiction of facial “shadows” is never

seen. Moreover if these facial lines on early Ife sculp-

tures were intended to evoke ideas of “divine kingship,”

as is argued in this volume, one wonders why these

same lines also are seen on many non-royal persona

in Ife art. Were facial lines important to minimizing

reection, as also has been asserted, why are these lines

shown on terracottas? Conversely, why do some equally

“shiny” copper alloy cast heads not have these marks?

Frank Willett’s argument (:Figs. –, pl. ) that

these vertical facial striations represent either Ife-

specic “tribal marks” or the grouping of Ife royals seem

more plausible. e dynastic interpretation that I oer

is more consistent with this latter view.

15 While some scholars (for example, Adepegba

) argue the reverse (that the works with vertical line

scarication reference new dynasty royals), my reading

of a range of evidence indicates that this is not the case.

16 ese vertical lines are so ne that most likely

they were incised on infants. As a child grows older,

skin keloiding (the thickening of the epidermis around

a cut) oen occurs, leaving the facial markings thick

and broader.

17 In part in reference to this, Clapperton (,

in Johnson :) observes vis-à-vis facial marking

patterns here that “Upon the whole, the people of Yarba

[Yagba] are nearly of the same description as those of

Noofee [Nupe].”

18 Interestingly, the military leader, Oranmiyan,

also may have had Yagba and/or nearby Nupe family

connections.

19 e Yagba living today in the Ekiti area, like

Ife Elu lineage members, are identied as “strangers”

(Apter :), even though this group in both areas is

recognized as being among the earliest residents. Apter

also has taken up important issues of Yagba religion and

politics (, ).

20 Yoruba tonal variations of the word igbo refer-

ence at once a “grove” and a bird species. A ritual site

outside Ife called Igbo Igbo (the “Igbo grove”) suggests,

however, that the term also may delimit an ethnicity,

as does the term for Ife’s earliest era, Igbomokun (“the

dawn belongs to the Igbo”).

21 According to Edo anthropologist Joseph

Eborieme (p.c.) the Igbo also are important to early

Benin history and city planning. Victor Manfredi notes

in turn (p.c.) that in Edo, the term for slave, igbon,

alludes to the Igbo population in a form of punning or

word association.

22 Interestingly, the ancient Ife Ikedu oral tradition

identies early Ife society as having two main divisions,

the more populous being known as Ehele, and the

other identied as Igbo (Akinjogbin n.d:). Among the

Yoruba-related Urhobo to the south, the Ehele reference

a once powerful warrior group.

23 Parts of this section are taken from Blier .

Willett () has critiqued both my and Drewal’s writ-

ings on these heads; I provide counter evidence in my

forthcoming book.

24 Most of these life-size heads and other Ife cop-

per alloy sculptures were published in Underwood ,

employing the numbering system still largely in use by

scholars today.

25 is theory was elaborated even earlier by Fagg

(:), Bertho and Mauny (:), and Justine

Cordwell (). Neither Willett nor later Ife scholars

have addressed the roles of these earlier scholars in the

development of this theory.

26 In several cases, the heads appear to have been

fashioned aer the same individual, reecting the pos-

sible use of a shared model—conceivably a living rela-

tive of a closely allied lineage or family. In a similar way

in Ife today, the two main Obatala lineage priesthoods

are represented by a single lineage head, one line having

died out.

27 Drewal oered yet another theory (:–)

that seemingly amplies, without citation, my  Art

Bulletin article on the heads that had been forwarded to

him for review. He additionally incorporates Beier’s 

study of modern crown rituals in Okuku, a kingdom

some distance from Ife.

28 e identication of these heads with super-

naturals conforms with Ife beliefs at the time they were

unearthed (Bascom :).

29 An elderly Obalufon priest at this center

explained that this grouping of sixteen heads is housed

within the Obalufon temple, each kept “in its own sepa-

rate apartment.”

30 While it is possible that these beard forms dif-

ferentiated male from female persona, it is more likely

that the beard references served as markers of age or

status among males, since most of the names provided

for the Obalufon related copper alloy heads are identi-

ed with male heroes and lineage leaders.

31 Drewal disagrees (:, , n.) that the

lower facial holes shown on the life-size heads reference

the male beard line, arguing instead that these holes

were employed to “... attach a beaded veil for the lower

face” because, according to him, “... the face of a sacred

ruler was not to be seen on ritual occasions” (Dre-

wal and Schildkrout :, Fig. ). is theory is

problematic since the sets of hole lines on these life-size

heads outline specically the mouth, mustache, and

beard areas in such a way that makes little sense for a

african arts Winter 2012 vol. 45, no.4

veil because gravity would make the lower holes redun-

dant. Moreover, if the holes were meant to attach a veil,

it is curious that the eyes were not covered as well, since

the Yoruba king’s veil today is believed to protect the

populace from dangers of the Oba, his eyes as much as

his mouth. In his theory, Drewal (:  n.) cites

the work of Fagg and Willett  (sic). Fagg and Willett

(:), however, do not concur with Drewal’s conclu-

sions.

32 Werner and Willett oer () a correction

to Barker’s earlier analysis, noting that Head no.  is

“brass” with . percent zinc content and “practically

no lead.”

33 e lead quantities used in these heads vary

as well, from –. percent for the nearly pure copper

heads to .–. percent for the others.

34 e late Ife archaeologist Omotose Eluyemi

proposed (:) a chronology based on terms

drawn largely from Ife oral tradition. While both

archaeological and artifactual evidence are lacking for

this chronology, the local era names included poetic

temporal complements that convey something of local

perceptions of how history, time, and cosmology at Ife

are interlinked.

35 is rather Western-centric developmental

teleology that also integrates purported style distinc-

tions in Ife sculptures lacks not only archaeological

but also art historical grounding and has met with

notable criticism from Ife archaeologists Peter Garlake

(:–) and Frank Willett (). As Garlake

points out (:tk) vis-a-vis Drewal’s attempts to docu-

ment stylistic changes here based on artifact ndings at

the Ita Yemoo and Obalara’s Land sites: “... there is very

little if anything to suggest the sites are not contempo-

rary.” Garlake (, ) also questions the Ita Yemoo

chronology oered by Willett, a site whose dates Willett

also would later revise. While Drewal states (:)

that Obalara’s Land is “... slightly later than Ita Yemoo

and perhaps Lafogido,” the scientic evidence, Garlake

points out (:), also does not support this state-

ment. e single radiocarbon result for the Lafogido

site is considered not sucient enough to serve as a

accepted date marker. ere also is no archaeological or

stylistic evidence that objects carved in stone are earlier

in date than those of bronze or terracotta.

36 Ogundiran’s chronology delimits Ife history

(:–; ) in a series of phases: an Early Forma-

tive Phase (– , characterized by iron use and

village structure), a Late Formative Phase (– ,

increasing political centralization); a Classical Period

(– , urbanization); an Early Intermediate

Phase (– , regional power centers); an Atlan-

tic Period (– , Atlantic slaving); and a Late

Intermediate (– , massive population move-

ments following Old Oyo’s collapse). I have chosen not

to use the term “Formative” as a period label because no

works have yet been found that suggest a developmental

art style at this center. Because the word “Classical” is so

deeply grounded in European art traditions (referenc-

ing ancient Greece and Rome) and carries related, long

standing cultural and historical associations in the West,

I also have not employed this term.

37 As important as the Pre-Florescence Era appears

to have been in Ife, we have little by way of scientic or

material evidence from related excavations, much of

this data coming instead from undated local artifacts,

regional excavations, and Ife oral histories.

38 At Woye Asiri, Garlake (, ) has identi-

ed a main occupation period with shrine oerings

based on radiocarbon test results within the time span

of –  at the earliest and –  at the

latest, suggesting a likely fourteenth-century occupation

dened by a relatively short period of building. Garlake

adds that “the main occupation is certainly placed in the

fourteenth century,” based on “recalibrations of the radio-

carbon calendar suggest[ing] an even shorter time span”

in which “[t]he twelh century dates probably mark

early thirteenth century calendar dates, and the eenth

century dates represent fourteenth century dates.”

39 e name Yoû also is in keeping with name

variants in southern Nigeria for the Yoruba city of Ife,

i.e. Ufe (among the Itsekiri) and Uhe (among the Bini

or Edo populations).

40 Battûta occasionally employs the name Yoû

to reference unknown sites, but the editor of this later

volume points to its likely location north of Ife in what

is today sourthern Niger Republic. e editor also sug-

gests a possible identity with the Nupe kingdom.

41 e wide distribution and high value of these

beads was due in part to their unusual dichroicism, that

is, their ability to change color in light—as a feature

today reinforced by the association in Ife itself with

fertility and nancial benets.

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