Staff
Yoruba
Description
Subject Matter:
It is not known exactly how this staff was used or who it was made for; it is possibly a staff of office or a chief's staff, in which case it would have belonged to a prominent member of a Yoruba community. Staffs in general were common symbols of social status or authority, as diviners, herbalists, and obas (Yoruba monarchs), important community members with the power to make decisions, often carried them.
References Cited:
Drewal, Henry John, John Pemberton and Rowland O. Abiodun. 1989. Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought. New York: Center for African Art.
Physical Description:
Carved wooden staff topped by a piece of metal with two standing human figures along the top third. The figures appear to be a woman and below her, a man. The bottom of the staff ends in a point.
Usage Rights:
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