  About the Artwork
  
  
  This altarpiece, composed of wicker, wood, and wires, is a memorial to an ancestor among the Kalabari Ijo people of coastal Nigeria. Such objects are known as duen fobara (“the forehead of the ancestor”), symbolizing the ancestor’s continual presence and enabling living relatives to communicate with them during a crisis. Around 1910, a local Christian evangelist convinced families to burn their altars. Consequently, duen fobaras are among the rarest African art.

Before 1900, every Kalabari family reserved a space for its ancestral altarpieces. A duen fobara often honored a family elder who became wealthy and influential in the European trade. The ancestor’s prominent central position, flanked by smaller family members, suggests his superior social rank. He wears a top hat, a status symbol, while masks depicting decapitated enemies allude to his war prowess. 

Many of this altarpiece’s formal elements reveal the profound impact of centuries of European interactions. Unlike traditional African sculpture, typically carved from a single wood block, this altarpiece assembles several individually created parts. Its precise right-angled corners and incised surface decorations are probably derived from European carpentry. European book illustrations and photography may have also inspired the arrangement of human figures.
  
  
  Title
  Ancestral Screen
  
  
  Artwork Date
  late 19th century
  
  Artist
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  Life Dates
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  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.
  
  
  
  
  Ijo
  
  
  Medium
  Iroko wood, earth pigments, plant fibers, and metal
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 48 × 35 × 15 inches (121.9 × 88.9 × 38.1 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  African Art
  
  
  Credit
  Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund
  
  
  
  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.
  
  
  
  2003.21
  
  
  Copyright
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