Two Ikenga Figures from Nri Awka Igbo
Two wooden Ikenga figures. The figure on the left is seated on a stool and is holding a staff in one hand and another object in the other. The figure has a stylised human face painted white with black markings accentuating the eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth, the two horns are curled. The figure is sitting and around the neck are coiled rings, the torso is painted white and black and he is wearing a painted ruffled tunic, there are coils around the ankles. The figure on the right is also seated on a stool. The figure has a painted white face with distinctive markings for eyes, nose and mouth, there are etched markings on the side, and there are two pointed horns painted black and white. The figure is holding a head in one hand and a cutlass in the other (the head and cutlass are also painted white.) There is a gourd attached to the figure with a piece of twine. There are also coiled markings around the ankles.
Community Notes
Onyeka Nwokike
Apr 20, 2026
These figures relate to a Lower Niger tradition centering on a man's right arm and success shared by the Edo, Igala, and most Igbo groups, according to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge.
Onyeka Nwokike
Apr 20, 2026
Nri-Akwa carvers produced the region's most elaborate Ikenga objects, transitioning from earlier designs of horns and heads smoking pipes to the complete seated figures seen here, per the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge.
Onyeka Nwokike
Apr 20, 2026
These images functioned as representatives for age-grades, communities, and corporate tutelary cults, as well as within the shrines of individual diviners, as documented by the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge.
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