Skip to main content
Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
Staff (Oshe Shango)
Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
© Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami. All rights reserved.

Staff (Oshe Shango)

Dateearly 20th century
Mediumwood and pigment
DimensionsOverall: 21 3/8 x 4 1/4 x 3 1/4 in. (54.3 x 10.8 x 8.3 cm)
ClassificationsWeapons and Armor
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Terms
    Object number90.0110
    DescriptionPerhaps the most frequently occurring form in Yoruba art is the kneeling female devotee. While the kneeling woman is the ideal image of selfless devotion to a higher spiritual power the image also conveys the powers inherent in woman herself. She is the major vessel containing life force, ashe. She regularly gives up ashe in the form of blood at menstruation, signaling fertility, and in childbirth, a vivid demonstration of her power to give life. Lactation, signaled by her full breasts, demonstrates the nurturing power of woman. Contrarily childbirth may be associated with death. The loss of fluids from the body, especially in men in contrast to women, also suggests pain and danger. Woman, therefore, is a most potent symbol of devotion and of life and death, powers evoked, celebrated, and placated elsewhere in Yoruba life in the Gelede masquerade festival.
    On View
    Not on view
    Collections
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Nigeria, Yoruba people
    20th century
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Iban Dayak people
    20th century
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Nigeria, Yoruba people
    ca. 1950
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Nigeria, Yoruba people
    ca. 1930
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Nigeria, Yoruba people
    mid 19th century
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Colima
    ca. 300 BCE-300 CE
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Bassa people
    20th century
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Andy Warhol
    1981
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Winslow Homer
    1889