By
Prof. Carol Ann Lorenz
Columbia University, New York City
Introduction
The
royal or chiefly compound possesses furnishings which may be
elaborated with patterns and images, in contrast to the undecorated
household furnishings of ordinary people. Kitchen stools, vessels and
utensils for preparing and serving food, and storage boxes are
typical carved furnishings of an Esan home; most of these are
decorated with the sorts of simple, incised patterns that appear on
other sculptures (Figs. 110, 111). The courtly home is distinguished
by the possession not only of decorated household necessities, but of
certain objects exclusive to elites. Primary among these is the
agbala stool of office.
The
Courtly Agbala Stool
The
Esan agbala (or agba
in some dialects) stool is an item of regalia which illustrates both
similarities and differences between Esan and Benin. Although the
Esan agbala and its counterpart, the Benin agba
are similar in name, rectangular form, and courtly function, there
are numerous differences in their mode of construction, imagery, and
style. Esan elites appear to have required a locally carved stool of
office which was similar enough to the Benin agba to retain its
association with prestige and authority, but divergent enough to be a
distinctively Esan product. Such distinctiveness seems to have been
unnecessary in the case of purely ornamental or functional household
objects, but essential in the political and ritual milieu in which
the aqbala stool functioned. In Esan, where Enijie often rebelled
against the overlordship of Benin, differences in the appearance of
the agbala stool may have been motivated, at least in part, by a
desire to create a symbol of political independence. Differences
between northern and southern Esan stools, as well as between the
stools of the rival kingdoms of Uromi and Ubiaja, may also be partly
attributable to a quest for distinction among Esan kingdoms.
The
Esan agbala stool is an important seat which Enijie and hereditary
chiefs (Ekhaemhon) use on ceremonial and ritual occasions, and which
figures prominently among the heritable goods which devolve to the
royal or noble heir together with his father's title. That the agbala
stool is symbolic of the hereditary status and prerogatives of its
owner is shown by the fact that only he may use it. It is
particularly forbidden for the owner's senior son and heir to sit
upon it. As the Esan people say, "One does not drink palm wine
from the horn of a buffalo until it has passed away" (Ibhagbode
Inegbeze, Irrua, 17 October 1980).
In name and function,
the Esan agbala (Figs. 112-139) is similar to the agba stool of Benin
(Fig. 140). Throughout Esan, the Enijie and chiefs traditionally used
the agbala when presiding over judicial hearings and public meetings.
This practice parallels the usage of the agba stool in Benin, where
". the Edo phrase for convening a meeting means literally to
'bring out an agba'" (Ben-Amos 1980: 15). In Esan, powerful
medicines (ikhumun) may be incorporated into the agbala stool to
insure that the Onojie's verdicts or pronouncements will be
uncontested (H.H. Akhadia Ogbeide, Onojie of Arnahor, December
1988).
The agbala is also used as a ceremonial seat when
the Onojie presides over religious services on behalf of the
community. In Uromi, for example, during the festival of (Uromi
land), one of the Onojie's agbala stools is carried in procession
upon the head of a retainer from the palace to the shrine of the
land, where the Onojie sits on the stool to witness the necessary
sacrifices. Agbala stools are also used in the worship of local
supernaturals, usually deified royal or founding ancestors. The stool
is stored in the shrine and used by the priest (ohenlen
or oh~n) on both private and public occasions. For example, the
priest who cares for the shrine of Oghu, the deified ancestral
founder of the royal lineage at Uromi, sits upon his inherited aqbala
when presiding at major festivals, which are held every third year
and involve the entire town, as well as when performing sacrifices
for individual supplicants on market days (Oboite Omoifoh, Uromi, 12
August 1980).
Agbala
stools
are often stored in the paternal ancestral shrine rooms of Esan
elites, where they are preserved as relics of the noble forebears who
had them carved. The stool may serve as a focus of offerings to the
ancestors, or the householder may sit upon it to offer sacrifices to
his forefathers. This usage can be documented at least to the first
decade of this century; in a caption to a field photograph of an
agbala, Northcote Thomas (1910, Cambridge neg.no. 1039) describes it
as a "stool used for worship of father."
The
Origin of the Agbala Stool
Benin
oral traditions claim an ancient origin for the agba stool, stating
it was introduced as a throne during the reign of Ere, the second
king of the ancient Ogiso dynasty in Benin (Egharevba 1968: 1;
Ben-Amos 1980: 14). Apart from its stated antiquity, the symbolic
importance of the agba stool is illustrated in two Benin narratives
concerning periods of conflict and upheaval. In the first tradition,
Ewedo, the fourth king of the new Edo dynasty, found himself
challenged by a descendant of the old Ogiso order. After the contest
was settled in Ewedo's favor, he wrested away the Ogiso's "royal
stool" in order to strengthen his own base of leadership
(Egharevba 1968: 10). The second narrative describes the plight of
the friendless Oba Ewuakpe (c. 1700), said to have been deserted
even by his porters. Although he had to carry the agba stool and the
Ada sword himself, he maintained control over these essential symbols
of office, and eventually regained control over the kingdom
(Egharevba 1968: 38). While the agba /agbala is not now a throne in
either Benin, where it has been replaced by a round, cloth-covered
stool called ekete (Ben-Amos 1980: 14), or in Esan where a
three-tiered molded mud banquette (ojiukhuo) serves this purpose, it
remains a significant political and cultural object. The form and
imagery of the Esan agbala reinforce its importance as an item of
royal and chiefly regalia.
Form
of the Agbala Stool
Both
the Benin and Esan aqbala stools are rectangular in format and
constructed of several parts, in contrast to domestic stools which
are usually cylindrical and monoxylous. The typical Esan agbala
(Figs. 112, 113) is composed of two upright supporting side panels
connected by mortise and tenon joints (and sometimes also nails) to a
rectangular seat, as well as to front and back stretchers. The seat,
averaging about 22" long by 14" wide, overlaps the upright
panels by several inches on either side. The upright supports,
usually about 18" high, consist in many cases of a rectangular
panel with an openwork frame enclosing two-dimensional or semi-round
figures (Fig. 113), and in other instances of a solid rectangular
panel with low relief images carved upon them (Figs. 125, 130). The
latter panels are carved with a semi-circular or triangular section
removed from the lower ends, creating two short "legs" on
either side. A very small number of agbala stools have no stretchers,
and are formed instead with four upright supporting panels (Fig.
132).
Although the Esan agbala and Benin agba are both
rectangular in format, their modes of construction are quite
different. In the typical Benin agba, there are no side support
panels. Instead, there are four plank-like legs, two facing front and
two behind. These are mortised into the seat, and are connected by
mortise and tenon joints to four stretchers, one on each of the four
sides. Carved decoration may be non-representational or figurative;
when figures are illustrated, they are executed in low relief but not
in openwork.
The rectangular form and carpentered
construction of both the Esan agbala and Benin agba stools are
probably based on European models (Ben-Amos 1980: 14; Hess 1983: 41).
This assumption is in conflict, however, with the previously
mentioned Benin traditions which state that the agba
stool_______________________________
One stool of this type, and apparently of Benin manufacture, is preserved (in fragments) in the Ishan kingdom of Ujiogba.
was
introduced during the ancient Ogiso dynasty, which is said (Egharevba
1968: 1) to have ended long before the arrival of the first Europeans
in the late fifteenth century. There are a number of possible
explanations for this discrepancy. For example, in order to establish
the agba firmly as a symbol of authority, Benin leaders may have
found it useful to fix its origin in great antiquity, indeed among
the Ogisos, the former rulers of the Edo kingdom. An alternative
explanation is offered by Catherine Hess (1983: 43), who suggests
that the present form of the~ may differ from what prevailed during
the Ogiso dynasty, and that the European form and carpentry
techniques may have been adopted to enhance the status and prestige
of the stool owners.
Benin
Omada Carvers and the Agbala Stool
Hess
considers this possibility (1983: 41-46) in the light of
unconventional Benin carvings executed by the Omada
or
organization of royal pages, the most senior and talented of whom
were permitted to carve agba stools. Although both the professional
Igbesarowan carvers and the Omada
sword
bearers carved agba stools (Ben-Amos 1975: 176, 185), the examples
produced by the latter betray a less sophisticated approach to their
work. Operating without the hereditary carving consciousness,
lifelong training, ritual sanctions or social status of the
Igbesamwan, the Omada amateurs strove to attain technical proficiency
without concern for the formal compositions, strict symmetry, static
postures and traditional imagery which characterized Igbesarowan
carving. For example, together with images of the 9ba and his
courtiers, Qmada sculpture incorporated everyday subjects (Ben-Amos
1975: 171) as well as non-Benin images such as Europeans with their
weapons, boats, etc. (Hess 1983: 41). Moreover, these non-traditional
subjects were rendered in a correspondingly non-traditional style,
often with elongated bodies, profile views and lively poses (Ben-Amos
1975: 171).
Among diverse relief carvings in Omada style –
including decorative wall plaques, storage boxes and tabletops –
three rectangular seats of stools with multifigure compositions may
be found in Esan royal and chiefly compounds. An example from Opoji
(Fig. 141) depicts a sword bearing chief in profile, flanked by a
fish-legged supernatural to the left and a warrior actively engaged
in dismembering smaller profile figures to the right. While the chief
wears a traditional wrapper and ornaments and the warrior is
protected by numerous ~ circlets, the victims wear European-style
trousers or knickers. Two seats at Ewohimi depict, respectively, an
Oba or chief surrounded by courtiers, and profile warriors with
European clothing and guns. The two seats at the palace at Ewohimi
are called agba but they had been used by a priest during services at
a palace shrine rather than by the Onojie (H.H. s.u, Enosegbe II,
Ewohimi, 26 June 1980). The example at Opoji is referred to as aga,
chair, rather than agbala, stool of office (Chief Josiah Itua, Edohe
of Opoji, 12 September 1980). In other words, the Esan seats in
9IDada style are not only very few in number, but they are not
comparable in function or significance to the agbala stools which are
characteristically Esan.
The Esan agbala stools, nearly
thirty of them currently known, are distinctive in design and
ornament. Esan carvers not only solved the problem of constructing
rectangular stools very differently from the Benin model, but also
decorated them with traditional images drawn from a typically Esan
artistic vocabulary.
Agbala
Imagery and Ornamentation
In
almost every respect the imagery and ornamentation of the Esan agbala
stool differs markedly from its Benin counterpart. For example, Benin
stools may be carved with either figural or strictly geometric
motifs, including extensive interlace patterns, rosettes and zigzags
(Malmsten 1937: Fig. 1; Pitt-Rivers 1900: Pl. 41; Ben-Amos 1980: Fig.
10). On the other hand, known Esan agbala stools always incorporate
figural elements, while rosettes are non-existent and the interlace
pattern is very rare. Further, the figures in Benin ~ stools are
incorporated into multi-figure compositions which are complex and
highly detailed, while Ishan stools contain only single figures or
pairs of figures. Moreover, a great range of personages may be found
in Benin stools, including the Oba, chiefs, traditional doctors or
priests, warriors, servants and supernatural beings, all represented
in hierarchic relationships with their characteristic costume,
regalia and other paraphernalia. In contrast, a very small number of
characters is portrayed in Esan stools, and these lack variable
heights or extensive ornaments which might distinguish them in rank;
in fact, they sometimes appear completely naked and unadorned.
The
placement of the figures also differs in Benin and Esan courtly
stools. In Benin examples, the main figural group appears on the seat
of the agbala, while additional figures may be carved on the legs and
stretchers. In Esan, the stretchers bear the main figural images, and
subsidiary figures appear on the supporting side panels. Carved
decoration on the Esan aqbala seat is limited to geometric patterns
(with one known exception in which low-relief heads appear at the
corners).
In addition, all Benin ~ stools derive from the
Qba's court, whether carved by members of the Iqbesarowan or Qmada
organizations. Consequently, within these two modes of expression
there is a certain stylistic coherence, allowing of course for
differences from hand to hand. The Esan stools, in contrast, exhibit
marked variability in form and predominant imagery. Three distinctive
types, each with limited regional distribution within Esan territory,
account for most of the known aqbala stools, with the exception of
three variant examples. If more stools should come to light, the
following typology may be expanded or amended.
Agbala
Type I (Openwork Stools)
The
most numerous type of agbala stool represented by fourteen complete
and fragmentary examples (Figs. 112-123), is characterized by a
frame-like enclosure on both the stretchers and supporting panels in
which single figures or small groups are carved in openwork. With one
exception, extant stretchers within this category bear a group of
three images depicting either a person gripping another figure with
his left hand and holding a sword point down in his right hand (Fig.
112, 114) or, alternatively, a person holding a sword point down in
both hands (Fig. 116). In both cases, the sword is exaggerated in
height and volume so that it is roughly equivalent in size to the
human figure(s), forming an approximately symmetrical group. The
symmetry of the composition extends to the entire agbala, since the
figures on the front and back stretchers of all the complete stools
of this type are identical to one another, as are the single images
on the side panels. The latter include a crocodile or lizard, the
ujie
group in which one man supports another on his shoulders, a figure
smoking a pipe, and a supporting figure with arms upraised or to the
side. The exceptional openwork agbala (Fig. 122- 123) has supporting
figures with upraised arms on the stretchers as well as on the side
panels.
All of the human figures are rendered very simply,
with almost no adornment. The smokers, Ujie figures and caryatids
which appear on the side support panels are depicted naked or wearing
short wrappers. The sword wielding figure on the stretchers always
wears a short wrapper; when he grasps a captive, the latter sometimes
appears unclothed, which subtly distinguishes the dominant central
figure from his subordinate.
Most of the agbala stools in
this group are preserved in Uromi in northern Esan, with single
examples found in the northern kingdoms of Uzea, Igueben and Ekpoma.
In addition, a side panel from Irrua collected by Northcote Thomas
now rests in the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at
Cambridge (Accession No. Z12815), and a complete agbala stool from an
unknown location is now in the Museum of Mankind in London (Accession
No. 1954 AF 23.422). Finally, the anomalous example with caryatid
figures on all four sides was photographed by R.E. Bradbury (Negative
Nos. B26/6-7) in Ebelle, a southern Esan kingdom.
I
believe that all of the openwork agbala stools originated in Uromi,
even though they may have been photographed or collected elsewhere.
For example, close formal similarities suggest that an agbala in the
Uromi village of Efandion (Fig. 112-113) was carved by a master 268
artist who also produced the stool at Igueben (Fig. 114-115) which
was photographed by Bradbury (Negative Nos. B12/1-5). The two stools
are characterized by a richness of textural patterns throughout, and
share certain ornamental and iconographic features which are not
found in other examples, including two versions of an interlace
pattern, the ujie motif, grinning figures, relief snakes, and
protective egba • rings.2 Similarly, a fragmentary stretcher (Fig.
118) photographed by Bradbury at Ekpoma (Negative No. B29/38) is by
the same hand that carved agbala stools in two Uromi villages (Fig.
119). The three stretchers are distinguished from others by features
such as the incised opposing scallop patterns, the semi-conical shape
of the sword pommel, the robust figures, and the hand of the captive
which leaves the opening of the panel and becomes a relief element on
the frame. Incised bands of hatched triangles accompanied by small
rectangles which appear on several Uromi side panels (Fig. 120) may
also be found on an example collected in
It is likely that a second carver had a hand in ~he Igueben stool. Although the figures in the side panels are formally identical to the Uromi example, the figures on the stretchers differ in the degree of angularity of the torsos and in the placement of the legs, and appear to be somewhat less finely carved.
Irrua
(Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University,
Accession No. Z12815), linking it with the same carver or
workshop.
Although it was claimed that the agbala at uzea
(Fig. 121) was carved locally (Chief J.O. Ojabhole, Uzea, 15 October
1980), it is likely to have been carved in Uromi or based upon an
Uromi model. According to the Nigerian government (Bendel State 1979:
A106), Uzea has a clan head rather than an Onojie. This situation is
explained by Esan oral history (Okojie [1960]: 221) which states that
a rebellious Onojie o£ Uzea was killed in battle with the
sixteenth-century 9ba Ozolua, who promptly rescinded the Onojie
title.3 Uzea was administered for a lengthy period through the palace
at Uromi, which may thus have become a source for regalia such as the
agbala stool.
The final outlying agbala stool of this type
(Fig. 122- 123), photographed in the southern kingdom of Ebelle
(Bradbury, Negative Nos. B26/6-7) also belongs by virtue of its
openwork construction and caryatid imagery to the Uromi stool
tradition. It was probably commissioned from an Uromi carver
specifically for an Ebelle patron because, as we
This account was denied by the Clan Head of Uzea (Chief Arhewan Inegbenijie, Uzea, 17 October 1980) and by heads of Uzea villages, each of whom has declared himself Onojie (Chief J.O. Ojabhole, Uzea, 15 October 1980; Chief Ebhoteme Aluobhio, Uzea, 5 September 1980). Nevertheless, it was acknowledged (Chief Ebhoteme Aluobhio, Uzea, 5 September 1980) that Uzea once "served" the Onojie of Uromi and paid him homage.
shall
see, it resembles southern stools in two important respects: the four
sides are nearly the same width and they depict the same
subject.
Agbala
Type II (Ridge Figural Stools)
The
second type of Esan agbala (Figs. 124-131) is represented by five
known examples in which the stool elements are carved in low relief
rather than openwork, and the side panels have two short legs created
by cutting a semi-circle or triangle away from the bottom edge. The
figures are highly geometricized, and appear in a limited number of
postures. With the exception of one stool in which the stretcher
ornament is non-representational, each stretcher bears a figure (or
pair of figures) with arms upraised or on the hips (Figs. 124, 127,
129). The figures are all naked and their genitals are exposed. The
images on neither the stretchers nor the side panels are necessarily
identical to one another. Panels on two of the stools depict two
profile leopards arranged in piggyback fashion, with their heads
facing in opposite directions (Figs. 128, 131). In two other stools,
a male figure holds a fighting sword agbala
or executioner's sword (oho) aloft in his right hand (Figs. 125,
130). Another panel depicts a human figure with arms at his side,
while yet another bears an hourglass shape which resembles a hand
pestle (Fig. 126).
The most distinctive feature of this
agbala type is the series of short parallel incisions which outline
each relief image. In most cases (Fig. 129), the figures are
separated from the surface of the panel by a deep groove, which
resembles a recessed vee shape in cross section, and the walls of
which are also outlined with short incisions. On the stretchers,
alternating vertical grooves and ridges, similarly outlined, flank
the central images. On both the stretchers and side panels, incised
cross-hatched semicircles or triangles typically outline all four
edges.
On the basis of this small sample and limited
provenience data, it may be more difficult to localize the ridged
agbala stools reliably. Nevertheless, they clearly derive from
northern Esan, with a likely center of manufacture in Ubiaja. Only
one such agbala, photographed by Northcote Thomas (Cambridge
University, Neg. No. 1039) can definitely be attributed to Ubiaja;
two others are preserved in Uromi and Onogholo, and the remaining two
are in private collections. One of the collectors, however, is Celia
Barclay, who received the stool (and other Nigerian objects) from her
father, Maurice Cockin, who was a British colonial officer stationed
briefly in Ubiaja in 1912 (Okojie [1960]: 335). The Esan materials in
the second collection, that of the late Roger de la Burde, was said
to have been formed primarily in Uromi and Ubiaja.4 The most
compelling
Provenience and other collection data for the de la Burde collections cannot be independently confirmed.
evidence
for an Ubiaja source for this type of stool is provided by Northcote
Thomas's photographs (Cambridge University, Neg. Nos. 1025, 1027) of
two carved doors in situ in Ubiaja (Figs. 42, 44). The relief figures
of men and animals in these doors are also outlined with parallel
incisions, a decorative device which occurs nowhere else in Esan
doors or other reliefs.
Agbala
Type III Quadri-Panel Stools)
A third agbala type is represented by just two examples, deriving from Amahor and Ebelle (Figs. 132-136) in southern Esan. The two stools share an unusual mode of construction, in which there are no stretchers. Instead, the stool consists of four upright support panels of the same size, one on each side of a rectangular seat’s In both stools, roughly semi-circular areas have been carved away from both the top and bottom of the panels, to produce two legs on each side, as well as two arms rising toward the seat. In the Amahor stool (Fig. 132), a human head or skull appears in low relief at the center of each panel. Cowrie shaped eyes are carved within a circular concavity, and a long fleshless jaw extends downward from the round head. The same image can be found in the Ebelle agbala, one such head on each corner of the seat (Fig. 133).
The agbala at Amahor also has an undecorated base.
The
front and rear panels of this stool depict displayed human beings
whose faces resemble the disembodied versions on the seat. On one
side a male figure (Fig. 134) holds Ada and eben swords, and on the
other a female figure (Fig. 135) holds a yam knife (~) and a long rod
which may represent a pestle (ulurooko). Both figures have unusual
oval bodies from which limbs project outward and genitals project
downward. The male figure wears a cap or crown with two projections
near the top, representing the fish eagle feathers (igen-oghomben)
worn by men of status in both Benin and Ishan. On the side panels, a
leopard is depicted with a spotted oval body, four chunky legs with
delineated toes, and a long tail which curves over its back (Fig.
136). The seats of both of the southern stools bear the rare
interlace pattern.
Other
Agbala Stools
Three
agbala stools do not fall neatly into the above typology. At Ogwa,
two fragmentary panels survive from an unusual agbala stool (Fig.
137). The figures carved upon them have rounded bodies and heads and
concave eye areas which are reminiscent of figures in the southern
stool tradition (Type III), and the panels also have similar short
legs and upper projections. The theme of decapitation depicted in the
more complete panel, moreover, is related to the disembodied heads in
the Ebelle and Amahor stools. The fragmentary figure in the second
panel, however, holds aloft a protective device (ojiogho) which is
unique in agbala imagery but is seen in door reliefs from Ogwa and
Uromi (Figs. 49, 57). This stool bears both the interlace pattern and
hatched triangles; the latter are otherwise absent in southern
examples, and indeed are common only in the Uromi tradition (Type I).
Furthermore, holes in the Ogwa fragments indicate that the panels
were intended for attachment to stretchers, which are also a northern
phenomenon not seen in the two other southern stools.
Similarly,
a single panel from a second agbala (Fig. 138), now at the
Metropolitan Museum (Accession No. 1982.237) has legs and arms, as
well as holes for a stretcher. It also has a band of incised hatched
triangles. The relief figure of a naked whistle-blower is rendered
very differently, however, with a long, slender body and fluid legs
which wrap around the semi-circular cut out at the bottom.
Finally,
a large and finely carved complete stool preserved in an Uromi
village (Fig. 139) has flat and highly geometricized displayed male
and female caryatid figures on the front and back stretchers, while
the side panels sport a low-relief geometric image which resembles a
handled serving dish or mirror case. This exceptional stool is
related to the Ubiaja school (Type II) in its subject matter (pairs
of caryatids), but not in its flat format, which is unique in Esan.
Square and triangular openings cut under the arms of the figures are
reminiscent of stools in the openwork Uromi tradition (Type I), but
the frame-like effect of the latter is not present here. The three
uncategorized agbala stools may be variants of the types described
above, or they may eventually prove to represent additional carving
centers. Until further evidence comes to light, they are best treated
as anomalous works, perhaps carved by competent artists who were,
however, not agbala specialists.
Significance
of the Agbala Imagery
The
imagery of Esan agbala stools is fundamentally concerned with
legitimate authority supported by political, military and
supernatural powers (cf. Ben-Amos 1983b: 51). Of all the courtly
sculpture of Esan, the agbala has the most limited repertoire of
images. Because other reliefs, including panel posts and carved
doors, prove that a much wider range of figures could be produced by
Esan artists, we may conclude that the agbala images must have been
carefully chosen. The choice of imagery varies from region to region
within the three proposed types, but in each case the themes are
appropriate to a courtly seat.
In the Uromi stool
tradition (Type I), the principal images depict a captor and captive
or a man holding two swords point downwards (Figs. 112, 116). As we
have seen, the captor/captive is a multivalent image representing an
executioner with his victim or a war leader with a vanquished enemy.
As an execution scene, it represents the power over life and death
which was the prerogative of each Onojie within his own kingdom. This
image is, therefore, related to the function of the aqbala, which the
Onojie uses to preside over criminal and civil proceedings. In this
context, the captor-captive may also reflect the obligation of chiefs
to turn over criminals from their administrative districts for
judgment and punishment at the court of the Onojie. As the depiction
of an Qnojie or war leader with an enemy victim, on the other hand,
the captor/captive image suggests the importance of success in
warfare to the viability and independence of the state.
Criminals
and prisoners of war were often destined for sacrifice at the
accession or burial ceremonies of an Onojie or certain powerful
chiefs. That the captor, as well as the man with two swords, hold
their weapons point downward indicates respect for the earth, Oto,
which is polluted by wanton killing, but invigorated by human
sacrifice performed on the proper occasions. The point-down
orientation of the swords may further suggest homage to the royal
ancestors in the world below, whom one Qnojie joins when his heir
ascends the throne. The royal dead validate the transferral of the
throne from the late Onojie to his rightful heir This event is
illustrated in piggyback ~ motifs which appear on the side panels of
two Uromi stools (Figs. 113, 115). The toothy grins on the faces of
the yjig figures testify to the fact that a royal burial is a
festival of jubilation. On the agbala, the image suggests the
continuity of hereditary leadership, as the 277 title, rights and
property of the deceased leader are passed to his heir, who now
occupies the stool. The polysemous ujie image also reinforces the
theme of military leadership, as it equally represents a war chief or
a warrior Onojie carried on the shoulders of an orderly.
While
executioners and warriors represent those who uphold moral and
political order by force of arms, the image of a pipe smoker
(osiobodo), which also appears on Uromi side panels (Fig. 117),
represents the elders whose authority derives from their age, wisdom,
and closeness to the ancestors. As we have seen, the obodo pipe is a
sign of their status and prerogatives. As it is passed from mouth to
mouth among peers in the edion grade, however, it also functions as a
symbol of hospitality, peace and social harmony. On the other hand,
the caryatid figures with their arms upraised to support the agbala
seat (Fig. 120) refer, in a literal manner, to the support of the
throne by commoner men of the youth (e~nughele) and adult (ighene)
age grades, who can be called upon for contributions of agricultural
or other products, communal labor, and police or military service
when necessary. Caryatid figures are also related to the idea of
differential status in Esan society which is expressed in the ujie
image.
Caryatids are the principal images in the agbala
stools (Fig. 124, 127, 129) of the Ubiaja school (Type II), which
have a more limited corpus of images, including anonymous standing
figures, men with fighting swords, and piggyback leopards. The
leopard (ekpen) is the most often illustrated and significant animal
in Esan art.6 As in Benin (cf. Ben Amos 1976: 246), the Esan people
identify the leopard as the king of the bush and a fearsome warrior
of the animal world, noted for its ferocity and cunning. The leopard
kills and devours other animals just as the Qnojie executes human
beings (Chief Paul Ativie and elders, Irrua, 21 September 1980).
Thus, the leopard is a suitable metaphor for the military might and
executive powers of the Qnojie. The piggyback posture (Fig. 128,
131), moreover, seems to allude to the ujie ceremony and the theme of
hereditary succession of leadership. The heads of the leopards face
in opposite directions, moreover, which may refer to the coming to
the throne of the heir, while his recently deceased forebear is
departing to the other world (ẹlimhin).
The
leopard also appears in the southern stool (Type III) from Ebelle
(Fig. 136), along with heads which may represent the decapitated
remains of victims of the 9nojie's justice. Similar heads appear in
the second southern agbala
6.
In
agbala stools, the snake and cocodile appear very rarely. Like the
leopard, they are noble animals which are physically powerful and
tenacious, providing suitable metaphors for leadership.
(Fig.
132), and a man holds a severed head in the untyped stool from Ogwa
(Fig. 137). The principal theme of southern stools, then, appears to
be decapitation. The Ebelle stool also includes, however, the image
of an Onojie with ada and state swords depicted opposite a woman with
a yam knife and long pestle. The juxtaposition of a male/female pair
with images of violence is reminiscent of door reliefs from elsewhere
in Esan (Figs. 42, 45), which represent royal ancestors as well as
symbols of continuity and survival.
Women are rarely
illustrated in aqbala stools, appearing only as counterparts to male
figures, as in Ubiaja area examples with two caryatid figures (Fig.
124). Utensils which appear alone – a hand pestle (uluroabo)
in one stool (Fig. 126), and a serving dish(uro)
in another also appear to symbolize the domestic sphere within which
Esan women contribute to society. The utensils illustrated in agbala
stools – yam knife, long pestle, hand pestle, and platter –
figure in the preparation of ritual and ceremonial dishes as well as
family meals. Food brought to a shrine, for example, will form the
basis of a meal which may be portioned out to the participants
according to their status. If the illustrations of domestic utensils
allude to the shared meal, they provide a striking counterpoint to
the image of the communal obodo pipe; both reinforce social
stratification and promote social cohesion. In the context of the
agbala stool, then, these images suggest the orderly organization of
members of a stable society, over which the owner of stool presides.
References to the shared meal are also fitting in the context of the
agbala stool, which is often used on occasions during which feasting
plays an important part.
Kolanut
Vessels
As
in so many southern Nigerian cultures, the offering of kolanuts
(ebhele) is an essential preamble to any important Esan occasion. It
is the responsibility of a host to offer kolanuts to his guests as a
sign of hospitality and respect. The honor of praying over the
kolanuts and breaking them goes to the most senior, or in some cases
the most high-ranking person present. At times, seniority and rank
extend to the village or kingdom from which a person comes; for
example, a visitor from Benin theoretically has the right to break
kola in any Esan community. The age and rank of all the members of a
gathering are reviewed prior to the breaking of kola, and their
relative standing determines the sequence of distribution of the kola
pieces. This occurs even when all those present know each other,
reinforcing the importance of age and titles in Esan society,
particularly for the benefit of youthful bystanders. Kolanuts are
also an important offering at the shrines of ancestors and certain
deities. Kolanuts are so vital a part of Ishan social and religious
activities that the kola tree (Cola yerticillata) is widely
considered to be sacred
(ọrhan-ebọ)
and is regarded as a human being (oria)
(Chief Ojiemhenkele Iriogbe, Irrua, 27 September 1980).
Although
all that is needed for the presentation of kolanuts are the two
cupped hands of the host, elite Esan households possessed one or more
decorated vessels (uriebbele) for this ritual of hospitality.
Nowadays, covered china or enamelware bowls might serve this
function, but traditional kolanut containers were carved of wood.
Carved Esan kolanut containers fall into two formal categories. A
lidded rectangular box is the most typical and widespread form of
kolanut container throughout Esan, but human figures with attached
bowls were also carved.
Most of the rectangular kolanut
boxes bear incised designs which are familiar elements of Esan art,
including series of hatched squares, ladder patterns, occasional
interlace patterns, and cross-hatched semi-circles, crosses and other
geometeric shapes. A few rectangular boxes from Uromi, however, are
decorated with relief figures. One of these depicts a reptile, while
two others illustrate the piggyback~ motif. The most spectacular of
these is a box, nearly three feet in length, at the Onojie's palace.
(Fig. 142). The ~motif is elaborated to include four figures, one
atop the other, each one wearing a short wrapper. The upper figure is
distinguished by an Onojie's cap or crown with a curved projection
from the top, but his upraised hands are empty. Below the figures is
a protective ring or disk, and a hatched rectangle pattern enlivens
the surface of the box. The relief figures are similar to those
depicted in carved doors (Figs. 47, 48) and agbala stools (Figs. 113,
115) from Uromi. Although they are rare, the relief images on kolanut
boxes reinforce the status of the owner with images of power and
legitimacy.
Three-dimensional figurated kolanut containers
(Figs. 143-147) are relatively rare, with only eight known to date.
Most of these depict kneeling women holding a box or bowl in front of
them. In one unusual example at the Metropolitan Museum, a female
figure is seated (Fig. 143), and another in the Barclay Collection
depicts a standing male figure carrying a container on his head. Only
one of the figurated kola containers (Fig. 144) was discovered in the
field (at Ugbegun), while another was photographed by R.E. Bradbury
(B29/4) at Ekpoma. The additional six known figures belong to museum
or private collections but, unfortunately, little is known about
their provenance.
The figurated containers are quite
variable and are consequently difficult to assign to specific
kingdoms or regions within Esan. One example which may be localized
with some confidence is in the British Museum (Accession No.
1954.Af.23.421). It depicts a woman with a baby on her back, and
bears features related to the large three- dimensional sculptures of
Uromi (Fig. 145). The female figure has the horizontal browline,
rectangular incisions at the outer eye, and cross-hatched body
markings which are characteristic of veranda posts at the Uromi
palace (e.g., Fig. 70). She also has faceted ornaments and
rectangular forearms which may be seen in other Uromi sculpture
(Figs. 48, 75). She wears, however, an unusual crested hairdo, which
is not seen in large-scale sculpture in Uromi or elsewhere in Esan. A
second figurated kola box (Fig. 146) depicts a kneeling female figure
with a rather different crested hairdo and facial features set in a
heart shaped face. This example was collected by Maurice Cockin and
may have come from Ubiaja, where Cockin was stationed, and where
heart-shaped faces are a frequently observed alternative to the
horizontal brow in the palace posts (e.g., Fig. 94). A seated female
figure at the Metropolitan Museum (Accession No. 1987.445.1) also has
a heart-shaped face, but this is set upon a geometricized, protruding
jaw which is simian in appearance (Fig. 143).
Facial
features of other figurated kola bowls do not conform to Esan figural
nor.ms; for example, several figures – from Ekpoma, Ugbegun, and
elsewhere – have large oval eyes which are deeply excavated (Fig.
144). The noses, mouths, and hairdos of these figures, however, are
variable. This is true also of their body types. The arms of some
figures, for example, take a sharp forward turn at the elbow (Fig.
146), while others are jointless and fluid arcs from the shoulders to
the hip area, where they hold the kola box (Figs. 144. 147). In two
cases, the figures wear unusual rectangular pendants around their
necks, and the kola boxes they hold are ornmented with an interlace
pattern (Fig. 147}.
While the rectangular kola boxes,
which are generally decorated with simple incised patterns and only
occasional relief figures, belong unquestionably to the distinctive
Esan sculptural traditions associated with courtly sculpture and
furnishings, most of the kola container figures do not closely
resemble the features of large Esan sculptures. Parallels may be
found, however, between the kola figures and small-scale figures such
as dolls and shrine images. Crested hairdos of different types, for
example, may be found among Ishan dolls (Figs. 202, 203}, and a small
standing figure has simian features (Fagg, 1968: Fig. 152) like the
Metropolitan Museum kola box figure. Both the figurated kola vessels
and the small Esan figures are highly variable in form, owing at
least in part to artistic interaction with neighboring peoples.
