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Osun rod (plastic)

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Rods on the Osun altars not only symbolise the power of the plants of the forest, their material, iron, contains this power itself. They were used by ritual specialists in oracles, for healing and above all as a means against witchcraft, an all-encompassing threat. Birds, snakes, chameleons and animal horns filled with dangerous substances illustrate the occult powers.

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Ethnologisches Museum Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Object type
Osun rod (plastic)
Dimensions
Weight: 40,2 kg
Diameter: 3,5 cm
Height: 178 cm
Depth: 20 cm
Width: 33,5 cm
Material/Technique
Iron, Brass
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
III C 8506
Related object(s)

Provenance and sources

  • Production
    where
    Benin [kingdom]
  • Production
    when
    18th century - 19th century
    where
    Nigeria
    Benin
  • Collecting
    who
    Heinrich Bey - Collectors
  • Change of legal title:
    Acquisition
    Description
    18th century - 19th century, commissioned work in the Kingdom of Benin; ownership before 1897 currently unknown; presumably looted in connection with the British conquest of Benin, 1897; in unknown possession after the conquest of the Kingdom of Benin; collected on behalf of the firm Bey & Co. between 1897 and 1898 in the territory of the later colonial Nigeria; sold to the Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin, 1899.
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    Africa

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

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