带盖容器 - 美国大都会艺术博物馆展品查阅

品名（中）	带盖容器
品名（英）	Lidded Vessel
入馆年号	1991年，1991.17.126a, b
策展部门	迈克尔·洛克菲勒之翼（The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing）
创作者
创作年份	公元 1600 - 公元 1800
创作地区	尼日利亚（Nigeria）
分类	骨/象牙容器（Bone/Ivory-Containers）
尺寸	高 8 1/4 × 宽 4 3/4 × 深 4 5/8 英寸 (21 × 12.1 × 11.7 厘米)
介绍（中）	这个壮观的象牙容器曾经是一个"olowo"的珍贵财产，"olowo"是约鲁巴王国奥沃的统治者，位于今天的尼日利亚南部。奥沃在十八世纪通过贸易和征服在地区崭露头角，并成为当时西非最大的国家之一。它与东南约七十英里的贝宁王国有着密切的政治联系。奥沃的大部分宫廷文化，包括头衔、服装和声望雕塑，反映了两个重要的政治和文化中心之间的密切联系。 "olowo"的巨大而可怕的力量在这幅作品的图像中由蟒蛇联合起来的四个人物群体表达出来，蟒蛇是皇室的重要象征。突出而普遍的泥鱼和鳄鱼图案唤起了国王的赞美名字或"oriki"，将他比作广阔的海洋，所有河流都流入其中，其深不可测的深度蕴藏着强大的秘密和超自然的能力。它还强调了国王与海神奥洛昆的亲密关系，奥洛昆为他的追随者带来了财富和生育能力。刻在这艘船表面的图像表明，"olowo"有能力跨越多个领域——陆地和水生，人类和神圣。
介绍（英）	This spectacular ivory vessel was once the treasured possession of an "olowo," the ruler of the Yoruba kingdom of Owo in present-day southern Nigeria. Owo rose to regional prominence in the eighteenth century through trade and conquest, and became one of the largest states in West Africa at that time. It had close political ties to the Benin kingdom some seventy miles to the southeast. Much of Owo's courtly culture, including titles, costumes, and prestige sculpture, reflect a close association between the two important political and cultural centers. The vast and terrible powers of the "olowo" are expressed in the imagery of this work by four figural groups united by a python, an important symbol of royalty. Prominent and pervasive mudfish and crocodile motifs evoke the king's praise names, or "oriki," that liken him to a vast ocean into which all rivers flow and whose unfathomable depths hold potent secrets and supernatural abilities. It also emphasizes the king's intimate relationship with Olokun, god of the sea, who brings wealth and fertility to his adherents. The imagery inscribed throughout the surface of this vessel suggests the "olowo's" ability to span multiple realms—terrestrial and aquatic, human and divine.