Object Details
- Local Numbers
- EENG-II-25, 10.
- General
- Title source: Index card based on photographer's notes.
- Local Note
- Typed index card reads, "I 2 Yrb. Yoruba. Nigeria, Ede. Shango shrine sculpture; Palace of the Timi of Ede. May 1970. EE. neg.no. II-25, 10." The card was written in 1977-79 by Archives staff using source provided by photographer.
- Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Collection Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Place
- Africa
- Nigeria
- Topic
- Rites and ceremonies -- Africa
- Works of art in situ
- Wood-carving
- Cultural landscapes
- Shrines
- Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Culture
- Yoruba (African people)
- See more items in
- Eliot Elisofon Field collection
- Eliot Elisofon Field collection / Nigeria
- Extent
- 1 Negatives (photographic) (b&w, 35mm.)
- Date
- 1970
- Archival Repository
- Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
- Identifier
- EEPA.1973-001, Item EEPA EENG 03371
- Type
- Archival materials
- Negatives (photographic)
- Black-and-white negatives
- Negatives
- Collection Citation
- Eliot Elisofon Field Collection, EEPA 1973-001, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
- Collection Rights
- Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
- Genre/Form
- Black-and-white negatives
- Negatives
- Scope and Contents
- "A carving in a Shango shrine is not worshipped. Shango himself is practically never represented. The carvings are mostly identified as the gods' wives, priests, followers and initiates. In the case of the Ede shrine the original identity of the twenty-four figures has been lost and they are now vaguely described by the aged priestess as people killed by lightening. One or two carvings are functional in the sense that they are used to support the calabash in which the sacred thunderbolts are kept. But the majority act through their mere presence. The purpose of worshipping Shango is not to become a perfect human being but to live a fuller, intensified live." [Ulli Beier: Shango Shrine of the Timi of Ede; Black Orpheus. no 4, Oct. 1958, pp. 30-35, Ibadan]. During his trip to Nigeria, Elisofon visited Ede, one of oldest towns of Yoruba people; founded by Timi Agbale to establish a settlement to protect the Oyo caravan route to Benin. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon traveled to Africa from March 17, 1970 to July 17, 1970.
- Collection Restrictions
- Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
- Record ID
- ebl-1536870822481-1536871016059-0
