Fine, Pair of Yoruba Eshu Dance Wands

This finely carved pair of Eshu dance wands is remarkable for its superb blue-black colour – a deep patina mixed with years of the application of Reckitt’s Blue (a blue laundry compound produced in the UK, sold throughout the colonies, and originally intended for use in washing white clothes to make them whiter – in many tribal areas, the compound was used to colour wooden sculptures.)

The wands were intended to be gripped by a dancer during Yoruba Eshu rites. One has a kneeling male finial  and the other a female  each has the distinctive curved Eshu protuberance rising from their heads.

The male figure carries in his hands a bottle-shaped gourd (or calabash) – an identifying motif of Eshu. Such bottle gourds held powerful medicine (oogune).

The breasts of the female figure are ample and elongated. They are held forward by both hands as if the female figure is offering her breast milk. The gesture of kneeling and lifting the breasts is well known in Yoruba carving: it is symbol of generosity and ideal femininity.

Both figures have finely carved fingers. They wear anklets and bracelets.

Their eyes are almond-shaped with prominent eyelids. Horizontal scarifications (àbàjà) are incised on their cheeks. They exude an air of serenity.

Each figure has been carved with a necklace with large, triangular pendants on the front and back. Claessens (2013, p. 34-35) suggests that the triangular pendants are in fact intended to represent Islamic amulets made from leather packets called tirah. These contain Koranic citations designed to protect the wearer from ill health and bad luck. Tirah were made by Huasa in the north of Nigeria and sold by itinerant Huasa merchants who made their way south in the 19th century. Claessens argues that ibeji carved with tirah and presumably related figures are thus from the more northern parts of Nigeria. The presence of tirah did not mean that the owner of such figures was a Muslim; rather that the practice of wearing tirah for talismanic reasons was adopted by both Muslims and non- Muslims.

According to Chemeche (2013, p. 26), Eshu is a trickster who is able to be good and bad, trustful and mischievous, and can deliver prosperity or cause misery. He is the protector of travellers. Most importantly, he is the mediator between the realm of spiritual and mortal worlds. Therefore, he is the guardian of all rituals. He supervises all the sacrifices to the gods. His long phallic coiffure is unique. It symbolises a power that is both creative and destructive. This power allows him to bless those who perform their rituals properly and correctly with good fortune, and to bring misery to those who do not perform their rituals properly. Eshu is therefore often represented on the shrine alongside with other deities. Eshu is especially closely linked to Shango rituals.

The dance wand is carried by young Yoruba devotees on important ritual occasions. It is especially closely linked to the Shango annual festival. Eshu dance wands are very similar in iconography to Shango dance wands, apart from its unique and immediately recognisable phallic coiffure. Female figures on Eshu dance wands are usually young girls but they are mothers with a baby clasped on their backs on Shango dance wands. Also, Eshu dance wands can often be found in pairs whereas no documented evidence can be found for Shango dance wands in pairs. The dance wand is an extraordinary image when seen in the hand of a devotee.

Matched pairs of Eshu dance wands with significant age are rare. This pair has a beautiful blue-black colour, and patina. Each has a custom-made, black metal display stand.