Shango Wand

20th century

Yoruba, African

On View

African: Yoruba Spiritual Life, Level 1, North Wing

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About the Artwork

The Yoruba deity Shango embodies the thunderstorm, making him both a benevolent source of fertility and wealth and also potentially violent and destructive. A distinctive double-bladed wooden staff, oshe Shango, publicly identifies the deity's worshippers when carrying it. In praise dances, devotees may raise the staff high in the air and bring it down swiftly in forceful, sweeping gestures toward the earth, evoking the sound of thunder and the flash of lightnight, or they may press it to their chests as a gesture of respect and devotion for a god who can be both kind and volatile. During rituals, songs focus on the god's hot temper and capriciousness; however, figures such as this demonstrate calm composure, effortlessly balancing the twin thunder axes on his head. The double-axe motif expresses Shango's paradoxical nature. It also represents the onerous moral responsibility that Shango worshippers bear.

Title Shango Wand

Artwork Date 20th century

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. African

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Yoruba

Medium Wood, pigment, and nails

Dimensions Overall: 26 3/8 × 9 15/16 × 3 5/8 inches (67 × 25.2 × 9.2 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department African Art

Credit Gift of Robert Jacobs

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 1986.71

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Provenance

Robert B. Jacobs (Birmingham, Michigan, USA);
1987-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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