{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Bequest of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951","caption":"Artist unrecorded, Yorùbá, Nigeria, Western Africa, Ilé orí (house of the head) shrine, 20th century. Cowrie shells, glass beads, cotton, and velvet; 49.8 × 28 cm. Bequest of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951 (1998-736)","cultureterms":[{"id":2041478,"culture":"African"},{"id":2042050,"culture":"Yoruba"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2084870,"term":"shrines","aatid":300007558,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2100254,"term":"social status","aatid":300065206,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2158086,"term":"heads","aatid":null,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2158126,"term":"money","aatid":300037316,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2041478,"term":"African","aatid":300015647,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2042050,"term":"Yoruba","aatid":300016031,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2044421,"term":"cotton (textile)","aatid":300014067,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2048485,"term":"beads","aatid":300234006,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2151468,"term":"sewing","aatid":300053658,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2044505,"term":"cloth","aatid":300162391,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2044877,"term":"velvet","aatid":300133711,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2157849,"term":"beading (process)","aatid":300235440,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2166279,"term":"cowrie shell","aatid":300011834,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2043611,"term":"cotton (fiber)","aatid":300183670,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2161148,"term":"glass","aatid":300010797,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: Africa, Nigeria","code":"Place made","continent":"Africa","subcontinent":"Western Africa","country":"Nigeria","region":null,"state":null,"city":null,"county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/2328926/federal-republic-of-nigeria.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"49.80"},{"element":"Overall","type":"diam.","units":"centimeters","dimension":"28.00"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"1998-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":22875,"displayname":"Artist unrecorded","displaydate":null,"datebegin":0,"dateend":0,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Artist unrecorded","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":1950,"signed":null,"restrictions":null,"classification":"Ceremonial Objects","packages":[{"packageid":278831,"name":"10282025-DAY1-ONVIEW"},{"packageid":223066,"name":"Gallery_31_African"},{"packageid":52485,"name":"web_African_2015_09"},{"packageid":76937,"name":"web_African_beading_2016-06"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2084870,"classification":"shrines"}],"exhibitions":[],"cultures":[{"id":14188,"culture":"Yorùbá","alphasort":"Yorùbá","begindate":0,"enddate":0,"displayculture":"Yorùbá","displaydate":null}],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMSTU2018-1959051"],"displaytitle":"Ilé orí (house of the head) shrine","displayculture":"Yorùbá","displaymaker":"Artist unrecorded","captionhtml":"Artist unrecorded, Yorùbá, Nigeria, Western Africa, <i>Ilé orí (house of the head) shrine</i>, 20th century. Cowrie shells, glass beads, cotton, and velvet; 49.8 × 28 cm. Bequest of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951 (1998-736)","displaydate":"20th century","medium":"Cowrie shells, glass beads, cotton, and velvet","media":[{"id":223244,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMSTU2018-1959051","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":223245,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMSTU2018-1959052","isprimary":0,"rank":2,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"<p>\"The checklist of the John B. Elliott Bequest,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum </em>61 (2002): p. 49-99.</p>","citation":"<p>\"The checklist of the John B. Elliott Bequest,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum </em>61 (2002): p. 49-99.</p>, p. 71","date":2002,"id":3025,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774767"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"African and Oceanic Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199315,"term":"African Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1945-present","dateend":1999,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Ilé orí (house of the head) shrine","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":null,"objectnumber":"1998-736","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"John B. Elliott (1928-1997), New York, NY; bequeathed to the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, 1998.","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"The worship of the head is central to Yorùbá cosmology. <i>Ilé orí</i> (house of the head) like this one encased an <i>ìbọrí </i>shrine dedicated to the inner, spiritual component of the shrine-owner’s head. Historically, cowrie shells like those that encrust this structure were traded as currency in Africa. They are also used in communications between the human and the divine among practitioners of Ifá divination. An ilé orí protected the individual spiritually, and economically, through the accumulation of beads and cowries. Upon the owner’s death, the ilé orí was traditionally dismantled, its cowries redistributed among relatives and returned to circulation as currency. Because this ilé orí is intact, the owner probably converted to another religion before his death.\n","remarks":"AFR_31_WLA.pdf - Day 1 installation"}],"datebegin":1900,"sortnumber":"1998  736","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:52:03.712120","objectid":36969,"dimensions":"h. 49.8 × diam. 28 cm (19 5/8 × 11 in.)","on_view":true}