Igbo ritual vessel
- Audio guide stop: 174
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Osisa
- Date: 1890s
- Object type: figure
- Materials: pottery
- Museum number: Af1951,01.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is an Igbo ritual vessel from the late 1890s in the village of Osisa, Nigeria. Made from ceramic, the piece features a central male figure standing with a drinking horn in one hand and a fan in the other—symbols of status and wealth. He wears a manilla, a traditional currency and symbol of affluence.
Flanking him are two pregnant women, perhaps his wives, with detailed braids and scarification patterns. One holds a child. In front of them sit a servant with a gong and a fowl, part of a ritual linked to the yam deity Ifejioku. The chicken serves as a removable lid.
Such ceremonial vessels were made by older women who were respected for this unique craft. These figures emphasized the importance of family and fertility in Igbo society during harvest celebrations. Their style and composition are rare, with only a few known examples today.
See it in person
Igbo ritual vessel is on display in Room 25 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 174, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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