Wooden ritual object, part of an Igbo votive altar (Nigeria, Delta region) belonging to the ethnographic collection of the renowned collector William O. Oldman.
William Ockleford Oldman (1879-1949) was a British collector and dealer in ethnographic art, European arms and armour. He can be regarded as the absolute pioneer of collecting related to Pacific and West African arts. His business 'W.O. Oldman, Ethnographical Specimens' located in London was active between the late 1890s and 1913. Oldman bought objects from various sources, including auction houses, directly from other collectors and dealers and also from multiple British museums and museum houses. He regularly organised auctions to resell the objects in his possession, and also reserved several lots for private collectors, scholars and institutions, including the Museum of the American Indian, the British Museum, and Te Papa in Auckland.
The object in question has two grooves, one on the top and one on the base, to which were attached a series of elements (bones, beads, shells) that probably had a religious function. In addition, on the lower part we note the inlay of a five-pointed triangular geometric element, typical of the Igbo population. Applied to the upper part is an autograph label, signed by Oldman himself in 1920, which testifies to its importance and rarity.
Di seguito la trascrizione:

"Garofano di legno e perline del fiume Opobo (Africa occidentale). Questo joss ha un grande potere tra gli indigeni ed è stato recuperato dopo grandi difficoltà dal commerciante britannico del Distretto a causa della sua influenza selvaggia. Era stato rubato diverse volte e recuperato dopo gravi perdite di vite umane".
Oldman luglio 1920
Traduzione:
"Joss (ceppo) di legno e perline dal fiume Opobo (Africa occidentale). Questo Joss ha un grande potere tra i nativi ed è stato recuperato dopo grandi difficoltà dal commerciante britannico [stanziato] nel distretto a causa della sua influenza selvaggia/efferata. Era stato rubato più volte e recuperato dopo gravi perdite di vite umane.
Oldman luglio 1920
La fitta descrizione riportata meticolosamente da Oldman nell’etichetta trova riscontro in un articolo pubblicato nel quotidiano britannico “The Evening News” (1 dicembre 1926), a cura di W. Crawford Snowden, intitolato “Thrills in a London House of Jujus”, nel quale viene narrata l’acquisizione da parte di Oldman di three idols (tre idoli), uno dei quali è rimasto da allora sul suo tavolo:
[A British officer] had been a member of a punitive expedition in Yoruba-land on the West Coast of Africa, and in the course of it he had helped to sack a native joss house. Among other things they took were three wooden idols. At the time the soldiers thought nothing of the fact that the medicine man to whom they belonged no doubt bestowed on these jujus a vociferous and hearty curse. […] One of them has remained ever since on his desk.