  
  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 &Atilde;&#151; 9 15/16 &Atilde;&#151; 3 5/8 inches (67 &Atilde;&#151; 25.2 &Atilde;&#151; 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&acirc;&#128;&#153;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&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  1986.71
  
  
  Copyright
  Copyright Not Evaluated
  
  
  
