Yoruba, Veranda Pillar

(Nigeria) - wood, polychromy. h 144cm

(Private collection, Venezia)

photo by Sutto, Mirano.

 

This marvelously carved Yoruba pillar depicting motherhood was part of the temple of Shango, the powerful god (orisa) of thunder and lightning, in the Agbeni district of the city of Ibadan in  Nigeria, photographed on-site by the famous German scholar Frobenius in 1912. (See photo).

 

These splendid evocative pillars decorated the porches of royal palaces and the houses of senior Yoruba dignitaries, as well as the facades of temples containing the sacred altars of the spirits, orisa.

 

Over the course of time wood eating insects or rodents caused the significant deterioration of the pillars. They were, however, often not replaced with new ones. The owner or person responsible for the damaged structure could give the pillars over to the highest bidder for purely economic reasons, choosing not to substitute them. 

 

The destruction of several of the royal pillars of Efon Ayale, carved between 1912 and 1916 by the great master Agboniofe, is emblematic in this regard. In 1930, a large number of the pillars pertaining to the famous Adeshina family sculpture studio, were burned by fanatics of the independent African Christian Church, who branded them as "pagan". They were eventually stopped by priests of the Roman Catholic Church.