Carved Wooden Shrine Object from North Ika

The sculpture's base features anthropomorphic figures in a deep squat facing opposite directions, with punctate markings on their lower limbs. The central figure of the upper tier is distinguished by a neck with multiple horizontal annulated rings, while a smaller secondary figure stands in front, holding a thin, transverse object to its mouth that resembles a ritual pipe or flute. The contrast of the light wood and dark-filled incisions suggests the use of pigment or organic accretion within the carved linear hatching and geometric motifs.

This piece is indexed as "ika2" in the Ika (or Western Igbo) | Jones Archive. The photograph was taken during the 1930s by G.I. Jones, who served as a British colonial administrator in Nigeria for twenty years. According to the G. I. Jones, Photographic Archive of Southeastern Nigerian Art and Culture, Jones's subsequent role as a lecturer in social anthropology at the University of Cambridge helped establish these photographs as vital primary sources for the preservation of Igbo art.