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Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund\r\n (2010-129)","cultureterms":[{"id":2041478,"culture":"African"},{"id":2042029,"culture":"Igbo"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2054791,"term":"sculpture","aatid":300047090,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2055006,"term":"ikengas","aatid":300259955,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2048754,"term":"ceremonial objects","aatid":300234117,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2048754,"term":"ceremonial objects","aatid":300234117,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2188417,"term":"scarification","aatid":null,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2100263,"term":"rank","aatid":300250915,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2158076,"term":"snakes","aatid":null,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2135524,"term":"rituals (events)","aatid":300065284,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2138817,"term":"staffs (walking sticks)","aatid":300221444,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2041478,"term":"African","aatid":300015647,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2131826,"term":"headdresses","aatid":300046023,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2042029,"term":"Igbo","aatid":300016065,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2055657,"term":"figures (representations)","aatid":300189808,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2156347,"term":"carving","aatid":300053149,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2151569,"term":"painting (coating)","aatid":300161986,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2045920,"term":"wood","aatid":300011914,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2055947,"term":"polychrome","aatid":300252261,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2167740,"term":"paint","aatid":300015029,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: Africa, Nigeria, possibly Nteje or Achalla","code":"Place made","continent":"Africa","subcontinent":"Western Africa","country":"Nigeria","region":null,"state":null,"city":"possibly Nteje or Achalla","county":"Anambra State","subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":"https://www.geonames.org/2349961/anambra-state.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"141.60"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"34.28"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"33.49"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"117.79"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"31.43"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"32.38"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"2010-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":22875,"displayname":"Artist unrecorded","displaydate":null,"datebegin":0,"dateend":0,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Artist 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1971)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"1971-07-03","enddate":"1971-09-05","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/3397"}],"cultures":[{"id":15605,"culture":"Igbo","alphasort":"Igbo","begindate":0,"enddate":0,"displayculture":"Igbo","displaydate":null}],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0110"],"displaytitle":"Figure (ikenga)","displayculture":"Igbo","displaymaker":"Artist unrecorded","captionhtml":"Artist unrecorded, Igbo, possibly Nteje or Achalla, Nigeria, Western Africa, <i>Figure (ikenga)</i>, first half of the 20th century. Wood and paint; 117.8 × 31.4 × 32.4 cm, 141.6 × 34.3 × 33.5 cm (mounted). Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund\r\n (2010-129)","displaydate":"first half of the 20th century","medium":"Wood and paint","media":[{"id":44245,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_DET1","isprimary":0,"rank":2,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45136,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0234","isprimary":0,"rank":17,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45137,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0233","isprimary":0,"rank":16,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45138,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0232","isprimary":0,"rank":15,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45139,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0230","isprimary":0,"rank":14,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45140,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0224","isprimary":0,"rank":13,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45141,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0220","isprimary":0,"rank":12,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45142,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0217","isprimary":0,"rank":11,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45143,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0215","isprimary":0,"rank":10,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45144,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0147","isprimary":0,"rank":9,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45145,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0146","isprimary":0,"rank":8,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45146,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0139","isprimary":0,"rank":7,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45147,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0121","isprimary":0,"rank":6,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45148,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0118","isprimary":0,"rank":5,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45149,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0115","isprimary":0,"rank":4,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45150,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0113","isprimary":0,"rank":3,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":45151,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2010-129_0110","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 157","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"Valerie Dartevelle and Valentine Plisnier,<em> Pierre Dartevelle and Tribal Art Memory and Continuity</em> (Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2020) <br>","citation":"Valerie Dartevelle and Valentine Plisnier,<em> Pierre Dartevelle and Tribal Art Memory and Continuity</em> (Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2020) <br>, Volume I, pg. 58, fig. 30 | Volume II, pg. 65, fig. 79","date":2020,"id":9696,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/1131904891"},{"boilertext":"Herbert M. Cole et al.<em> Igbo arts: community and cosmos</em>. (Los Angeles, 1984)","citation":"Herbert M. Cole et al.<em> Igbo arts: community and cosmos</em>. (Los Angeles, 1984), p. 28, fig. 46 (or 48)","date":1984,"id":8270,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/247998943"},{"boilertext":"Jacques Kerchache et al. <EM>L'art africain</EM> (Paris, 1988).","citation":"Jacques Kerchache et al. <EM>L'art africain</EM> (Paris, 1988)., p. 407, fig. 487","date":1988,"id":8271,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/20075757"},{"boilertext":"<em>Kunst uit Afrika: rond de Niger: de machtige rivier</em> (Recklinghausen, The Hague: 1971).","citation":"<em>Kunst uit Afrika: rond de Niger: de machtige rivier</em> (Recklinghausen, The Hague: 1971)., cat. 254 (ill.) 1, p. 52","date":1971,"id":8365,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/898778724"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2010,\"&nbsp;<em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 70 (2011): p. 69-110.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2010,\"&nbsp;<em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 70 (2011): p. 69-110., p. 70 (illus.)","date":2011,"id":2974,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/23631219"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"African and Oceanic Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199315,"term":"African Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1900-1945","dateend":1949,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Figure (ikenga)","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"2010-129","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"The large size and the iconography of this figure of Ikenga, the guardian deity of a man’s right hand, confirm its status as a communal rather than a personal Ikenga. As such, it belonged to a family, village, or age cohort, and offerings made to it supported the group’s spiritual, economic, political, and military ventures. The figure’s staff of authority, elephant tusk, scarification marks, and anklets reveal the high rank of its owners. During the Nigerian-Biafran War, also known as the Nigerian Civil War (July 6, 1967–January 15, 1970), traders removed many sacred Igbo objects, likely including this Ikenga, from Anambra and surrounding states across the border into Cameroon without recording dates, names, or locations. Dealers sold these objects, torn from their communities due to war, on the international art market, failing to consider the ethics or irreparable loss of information in their removal.\n","remarks":"AFR_31_WLA.pdf - Day 1 installation"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nThe Igbo peoples are known for their dedication to individual accomplishment and a system of titles based on earned status: <I>ikenga </I>are the<I> </I>sculptural concentration of this focus on achievement made into a figural shrine. Offerings to <I>ikenga</I>, altars to success, are meant to ensure accomplishment in many ventures: spiritual, economic, political, and military. The large size, complexity, and iconography of the Princeton work, created by a sculptor working in the Nteje area of eastern Nigeria, confirm its position as a communal <I>ikenga</I> as opposed to a personal one. As such, it belonged to a family, village, or age grade, and offerings made to it supported the group’s endeavors rather than the personal deeds of its members. Communal <I>ikenga</I> were ceremonially paraded at the annual <I>ikenga</I> festival in a show of community solidarity when all males born the previous year were brought before them.</P>\r\nThe work’s iconography reveals the elevated status of its ownership group. Striations representing <I>ichi</I> scarification marks cover the forehead. <I>Ichi</I> marks were the prerogative of an <I>ozo</I> titleholder, the Igbo system of hierarchical titles based on personal integrity, wealth, and achievement. Other indications of high rank include a staff of authority, elephant tusk, and ivory anklets. Horns, physical representations of power and aggression, are the one constant on all <I>ikenga</I> figures regardless of size, sculptural style, or, most importantly, the rank of the owner. In a demonstration of his sculptural virtuosity and creativity, the Igbo artist has elaborated what are frequently simple curved horns into a complex openwork headdress of sacred pythons, the embodiments of the Igbo goddess Idemili. Overall the superstructure is reminiscent of many masks of the Mgbedike type. Mgbedike<I> </I>masqueraders sometimes wear costumes made of cloth or metal plates that resemble the figure’s layered shirt. The references to this masquerade suggest a powerful male presence.</P></SPAN>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"El Hadji Moumie, Douala, Cameroon by 1967; Pierre Dartevelle (1940-2022), Brussels, Belgium, 1967; Jacques (1942-2011) and Anne Kerchache, Paris, France by 1984; [Collection of Anne and Jacques Kerchache, Pierre Bergé &amp; Associés, Paris, June 13, 2010, Lot 275]; purchased via the above sale by the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, June 13, 2010.","remarks":null}],"datebegin":1900,"sortnumber":"2010  129","published_date":"2026-02-11 12:27:45.745232","objectid":60129,"dimensions":"117.8 × 31.4 × 32.4 cm (46 3/8 × 12 3/8 × 12 3/4 in.)\r\nmounted: 141.6 × 34.3 × 33.5 cm (55 3/4 × 13 1/2 × 13 3/16 in.)","on_view":true}