Dance Staff (Oshe Sango)

Early 20th century

Yòrùbá: Yewa
Agbado region, Nigeria
Coastal West Africa

This dance staff has been carved in the form of a kneeling priestess holding a sacrificial chicken and ram. She wears a crown in the shape of Shango’s distinctive double axe, which symbolizes his dual character: violent and compassionate. These blades also evoke the Neolithic stone tools that are said to be hurled to earth by Shango during thunderstorms. Only senior priestesses or priests devoted to Shango can dance with such a staff in ritual performances and other events.

Status: On View, Gallery 137
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 pigment
Dimensions: H.: 38.7 cm (15 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Richard Faletti, the Faletti Family Collection
Reference Number: 2003.177

Robert Plant Armstrong, “Oshe Shango and the Dynamic of Doubling,” African Arts, vol. 16, no. 2 (1983), pp. 28-32, cover (ill.).
Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection (Phoenix: Phoenix Art Museum, 1997), pp. 27, 80; fig. 15; cat. 27 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis, ed., The Language of Beauty in African Art, ex. cat. (Yale University Press, 2022), cat. no. 84, p. 142 (ill.).

New York, Center for African Art, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought, Sept. 21, 1989–Jan. 7, 1990, cat. 112; 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, Phoenix Art Museum, Sept. 4–Oct. 6, 1991.
Phoenix Art Museum, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection, Dec. 13, 1997–Feb. 8, 1998, fig. 15, cat. 27; 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, Sept. 18–Nov. 1, 1998, New York, N.Y., The Museum for African Art, Jan. 29-Mar. 28, 1999, Davenport Museum of Art, Apr. 18–June 13, 1999, New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Sept. 12-Nov. 24, 1999, and The Boise Art Museum, Feb. 26–May 7, 2000.
Museum for African Art, New York, N.Y., Face of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas (organizer), Sept. 22, 1993-Jan. 7, 1994; traveled to, Seattle Art Museum, Feb. 17-Apr. 17, 1994, unknown location, May, 20, 1994-Aug. 15, 1994, Berkeley, Calif., Universtiy Art Museum, Sept. 27-Feb. 19, 1995, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Mar. 19-May 14, 1995, Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, July 1-Sept. 1, 1995.
Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth, Texas, “The Language of Beauty in African Art”, April 3-July 31, 2022; Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 20, 2022 - Feb. 27, 2023, cat. no. 84.

Jeffrey Hammer and Deborah Stokes, Chicago, Ill., by 1985; sold to Richard J. Faletti (died 2006) and Barbara Faletti (died 2000), Chicago, Ill. and Phoenix, Ariz., 1985; given 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.