Dance Staff (Oshe Sango)

Arts of Africa

Early 20th century

Yoruba
Yewa region (formerly Egbado), Nigeria
Coastal West Africa

The dance staff (oshe) is among the most quintessential of Yoruba art forms. This staff bears the double ax blades of Sango—the god of warfare and thunder—representing the Neolithic stone ax heads that the god is said to hurl to Earth during thunderstorms. Below the ax blades, a woman with twins evokes Sango’s special relationship to twins, who accompany him when he creates thunderstorms. Mothers of twins frequently become devotees or priestesses of Sango. This staff retains the encrustation of sacrificial offerings, indicating that it once stood on a devotee’s altar with other accoutrements intended to honor and invigorate the deity.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Yoruba
Title: Dance Staff (Oshe Sango)
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.: Made 1900–1940
Medium: Wood and sacrificial material
Dimensions: 39.4 × 19.1 cm (15 1/2 × 7 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Major Acquisitions Fund
Reference Number: 2003.176

Robert Plant Armstrong, The Powers of Presence, Consciousness, Myth, and Affecting Presence (University of Pennsylvania, 1981), cat. 13.
Richard F. Townsend, The Art of Tribes and Early Kingdoms, Selections from Chicago Collections (The Art Institute of Chicago, 1984), pp. 59, cat. 91.

New York, Center for African Art, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought, Sept. 21, 1989–Jan. 7, 1990, cat. 166; traveled to Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 10–Apr. 1, 1990, Washington D.C., National Museum of African Art, May 8–Aug. 26, 1990, Cleveland Museum of Art, Sept. 26–Dec. 9, 1990, New Orleans Museum of Art, Jan. 11–Mar. 24, 1991, Atlanta, High Museum, Apr. 23–June 16, 1991, and Phoenix Art Museum, Sept. 4-Oct. 6.

Merton Simpson Gallery, New York, N.Y., about 1978; sold to Michael Oliver African Art, New York, N.Y., about 1978 [see correspondence in curatorial file and photograph in donor file]; sold to Jeffrey Hammer and Deborah Stokes, Chicago, Ill., by 1981; sold to the Art Institute, 2003.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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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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