Stylistic and iconographie study of the edan sculptures of MAEUSP collections.

Abstract

The Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia of the University of São Paulo has a collection of pieces of cast metal used by a traditional institution of the Iorubas from Nigeria, called Ògbóni society, of political-religious character. The Ògbóni's objects are normally made of metal alloy, referred in the publications as “bronzes”, and edan is a specific type of such objects. The goal of this article is to present a study of the edan of this collection in which we systematize the corresponding documental, historic and ethnographic data and those obtained through formal, functional and symbolic analyses of the pieces. This led to the characterization of the edan sculptures of the MAE’s ògbóni collection defining them as a specific category of technical, but above all stylistic and iconographic production of the Iorubas.

Keywords

• Africa
• Ioruba - African art
• stylistic - Metal sculpture - Ioruba
• Ògbóni society - Mithology
• lie - Musei
• collection studies.