Idiophone/Staff (ahianmwẹn-ọrọ)
Unknown Artist
possibly 1800s
Medium
Copper alloy
Dimensions
36.2 × 9.9 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
James Albert Ford Memorial Fund
Accession Number
1938.5
About this artwork
Courtiers, priests, and senior chiefs strike instruments like this during the Ugie Ọrọ festival. The long-legged metal bird refers to the 16th-century ruler Ọba Ẹsigie. Wings outstretched with long, textured feathers, it is the ahianmwẹn-ọrọ (bird of prophecy). It stares outward, a likely magical substance clenched in its beak. Such a bird prophesied Ẹsigie’s defeat and death during the Idah War (about 1515–17), leading his people to resist fighting for him. When Ẹsigie triumphed, bronze bird ef...