Owner: HWMC
Catalog#: AF-IDST-55-14
Provenance: Don Peck Collection, Dallas, Texas
Source: “Der Ogboni-Geheimbund” by Dr. Th.A.H.M. Dobbelmann, 1976 (pg 138)
Bells, Metal
Ogboni Bell (A)
Nigeria
Yoruba
Copper alloy
19th century or earlier
Height: 15cm, Width 7cm
Idiophone-Struck Directly – Metal Bell
This Yoruba Bell made for the Ogboni Society was used in rituals, possibly to make connections with their ancestors. The Ogboni Society is a fraternal institution indigenous to the Oruba language-speaking polities of Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Togo, and among the Edo people.
Ethnomusicologists believe that bells with a blade or knife handle, have a different function than bells with figural handles. This bell is closely related to a published example in “Der Ogboni-Geheimbund, by Dr. Th.A.H.M.Dobblemann, (1976), which suggests this may be by the same artist.