Headdress (Jagún Jagún)

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Mid– late 19th century

Yòrùbá
Ekiti region, Nigeria
Coastal West Africa

This imposing sculptural headdress would have been worn in masquerades honoring Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron, warfare, and technology. It was also part of a shrine where offerings of yams were applied to its surface. Ogun is depicted as a warrior on horseback who carries a shield with four human heads, possibly slain enemies. The smaller figure playing a flute represents Eshu, the divine messenger and god of human destiny.

Status: On View, Gallery 137
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Yoruba
Title: Headdress (Jagún Jagún)
Place: Nigeria (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1834–1900
Medium: Wood, iron, nails, fiber, and sacrificial materials
Dimensions: H.: 111.8 cm (44 in.)
Credit Line: The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Richard Faletti, the Faletti Family Collection
Reference Number: 2000.314
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/155956/manifest.json

Jeanne Brubaker, Contrasts: Tribal Sculpture of Nigeria, exh. cat. (Fullerton, Calif.: Cultural Group Foundation of Northern Orange County, 1969), no. 16 (ill.).
Harry A. Franklin Gallery, advertisement, African Arts 3, no. 2 (1970), p. 1 (ill.)
Drewal, Henry, John Pemberton III, and Roland Abiodun. Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought. New York: Abrams for the Center for African Art, 1989 (p. 190, fig. 220; p. 194).
Los Angeles County Museum, Riders of Power in African Sculpture, exh. cat. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1983), cat. 41.
Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection (Phoenix: Phoenix Art Museum, 1997), pp. 25, 74; fig. 12; cat. 21A.
Sotheby’s. “The Harry A. Franklin Family Collection of African Art,” April 21, 1990, sale 6001 (lot no. 356).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 41, pp. 110-111 (ill.).

Fullerton, Calif., Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Contrasts: Tribal Sculpture of Nigeria, Sept. 29-Oct. 25, 1969, cat. 16.
Los Angeles County Museum, Riders of Power in African Sculpture, Nov. 23, 1983-May 6, 1984, cat. 41.
New York, N.Y., The Center for African Art, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought, Sept. 21, 1989-Jan. 7, 1990; traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 10-April 1, 1990; Washington, D.C., The National Museum of African Art, May 8-Aug. 26, 1990; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Sept. 26-Dec. 9, 1990; The New Orleans Museum of Art, Jan. 11-March 24, 1991; Atlanta, Ga., The High Museum of Art, April 23-June 16, 1991; The Phoenix Art Museum, Sep. 4-Oct. 6, 1991.
Phoenix Art Museum, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection, Dec. 13, 1997–Feb. 8, 1998, cat. 21A; traveled to Chicago, The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, May 14–June 28, 1998; Urbana-Champaign, Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sep. 18–Nov. 1, 1998; New York, N.Y., The Museum for African Art, Jan. 29-March 28, 1999; Davenport Museum of Art, Apr. 18–June 13, 1999; New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Sep. 12-Nov. 24, 1999; The Boise Art Museum, Feb. 26–May 7, 2000.
Art Institute of Chicago, African Artistry: Gifts from the Faletti Family Collection, Oct. 5–May 18, 2003, Gallery 142, no. cat.
Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth, Texas, “The Language of Beauty in African Art”, April 3-July 31, 2022.

Harry A. Franklin Family Collection, by 1969 [Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, 1969, cat. no. 16]; sold, Sotheby’s, New York, N.Y., April 21, 1990 “The Harry A. Franklin Family Collection of African Art,” sale 6001, lot 356, to Richard and Barbara Faletti, Chicago, Ill.; given to the Art Institute, 2000.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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