Ọbalúfọ̀n II Aláyẹmore, the Ifẹ̀ ruler credited with the introduction of brass casting and worshipped as patron of casters and weavers, and the copper mask that carries his name on an attribution made by a king in 1937.
Machine na im translate dis page and no person don check am. The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, the meanings and the citations dey exactly as the original. Everything else fit wrong.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Ọbalúfọ̀n II, wey dem still dey call Ọbalúfọ̀n Aláyẹmore, hold one position for Ifẹ̀ tradition wey special among early pipo: na him dem link with one particular technology and one particular object wey still dey survive. Tradition give am credit say na him bring or support brass and copper casting for Ilé-Ifẹ̀ and weaving, and dem dey worship am as di òrìṣà patron of those crafts. Di life-size copper mask from Ilé-Ifẹ̀ wey almost no get any defect at all, wey be one of di objects wey show di highest technical skill wey survive from any part of medieval West Africa, na im dem dey call di Ọbalúfọ̀n mask bikos for 1937 di reigning Ọ̀ọ̀ni identify am as him portrait. Dat identification na di whole foundation of di name, and e dey important make person understand wetin e really establish and wetin e no establish.
Ifẹ̀ tradition put Ọbalúfọ̀n Aláyẹmore as di third Ọ̀ọ̀ni, wey take over from him papa Ọbalúfọ̀n Ògbógbódírin, and conventional reconstruction put him reign for di thirteenth century . Di dating na di normal calculation of how long king reign, so make person take am as approximate.
Di main point of di story na succession fight with Ọ̀rànmíyàn. Ọbalúfọ̀n dem push am commot for power by Ọ̀rànmíyàn and afta dat e come back, with support from di town pipo, to take di throne back . Suzanne Preston Blier Art Bulletin study build argument on top dis exact matter: say di Ọbalúfọ̀n arts for Ifẹ̀, and di traditions wey follow dem, concern rights of succession, and say regalia and image na di tools wey dem take claim contested legitimacy . For her interpretation, di way dem link Ọbalúfọ̀n with crowns and casting no be just by chance inside di political story but e be part of am, bikos di objects wey dey make king na di craft wey him dey patronise dey produce dem.
Tradition present him reign as di period of Ifẹ̀'s classical height: military war dem wey bring back Ifẹ̀'s position for trade routes, and more production of glass beads and copper alloys, with brass casting wey come gain ground well well . Dat last part na where tradition and archaeology fit really stand side by side, bikos both bead production and casting dey leave physical evidence, and archaeology confirm say Ilé-Ifẹ̀'s glass bead industry and him casting workshops really exist .
Tradition tok say na infectious disease, wey fit be smallpox, kill am for di last years of him reign .
Afta e die, dem deify Ọbalúfọ̀n and dem dey worship am as òrìṣà, di patron of art, weaving, and bronze and brass casting, and for some accounts, di patron of good governance and founding of Ògbóni . Di Ògbóni attribution connect am to di institution wey hold judicial power and check di power of di ọba for historic Yoruba towns, wey balance well with person wey dem remember say return legitimately against usurper.
Dis na di same continuum between important ancestor and òrìṣà wey dem discuss for di method file of dis section. Di craft guilds of casters and weavers get patron wey still be king for di dynastic list, and no place dey inside tradition where dem treat dose two things like say dem dey drag or contradict each other.
Di object na life-size mask wey dem cast with copper wey pure reach about ninety-nine percent, through lost-wax process, and e technically extraordinary: to cast pure copper hard far pass to cast leaded brasses wey dem use for most of di Ifẹ̀ heads, bikos copper get higher melting point and e no dey flow well, so to cast thin wall wey balance dey very hard. Say Ifẹ̀ workshops fit do am at all, and do am for dis kind size and finish, na di strongest single evidence wey show how di tradition sophisticated reach .
Di written history short and specific. Na 1937 Adésọjì Adérẹ̀mí, wey be Ọ̀ọ̀ni of Ifẹ̀ dat time, first publish di mask for inside journal wey dem dey call Nigeria. E identify am say na Ọbalúfọ̀n II e represent, and e state say dem keep am on top altar for one room inside royal palace for Ifẹ̀ wey dem dey use for coronation since di time wey dem make am . Ekpo Eyo and Frank Willett, di two archaeologists wey work pass on modern study of Ifẹ̀ art, date di mask base on style and context to twelfth to fifteenth century dem .
Three different claim join together inside di phrase "the Ọbalúfọ̀n mask" and dem get different weight.
Say dem make di object for Ilé-Ifẹ̀ during di classical period get backing from di material, technique, and style, and nobody dey really argue am.
Say dem keep am inside palace and use am for coronation na claim about custody and function wey di Ọ̀ọ̀ni make for 1937, as e report palace tradition. E make sense, e match di shape of di object, but person no fit independently verify am. Blier and odas treat di coronation function as di working interpretation .
Say di face na portrait of one specific historical person wey dem call Ọbalúfọ̀n II na di weakest claim out of di three and e never establish. Ifẹ̀ heads naturalistic in di sense say dem look distinct and get life, and di long argument on top weda dem be portraits of specific pipo or idealised representations of kingship never finish. Di 1937 identification dey tell us wetin di palace believe about di object for twentieth century. E no establish by itself say person sit down for am for thirteenth century.
E dey important to dey clear about dis bikos dem dey always reproduce di mask with di caption "Ọbalúfọ̀n II" like say na identified portrait just as European royal portrait dey identified. E no be so. E be masterpiece wey him traditional identification come from single named source at a known date, wey plenty pass wetin most Ifẹ̀ objects get, but far less pass documented attribution.
Di study wey Blier do go beyond Ifẹ̀ reach oda Yoruba towns, and e argue say Ọbalúfọ̀n-associated imagery and royal dressing dey show up across Yoruba towns for matters wey concern succession rights . Di Ọbalúfọ̀n title sef still dey for Ifẹ̀ as chieftaincy title wey person dey hold today, so di name na three things at di same time: person wey dey inside king list, an òrìṣà, and office wey person dey hold right now, and Yoruba usage dey move between di three without wahala.
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Ilé-Ifẹ̀ between roughly the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, its sculpture in copper alloy and terracotta, the industries that paid for it, and its relationships with Benin, Ọ̀wọ̀ and the Niger.
The figure at the root of Yoruba dynastic claims, the several incompatible traditions about who or what Òdùduwà was, the conflict with Ọbàtálá at Ilé-Ifẹ̀, and what archaeology and historians can and cannot establish.
The genres of Yoruba wood carving, from Ifá trays to palace doors to epa masks, the master carvers and family workshops who made them, and the reason so much of this work sits in museums without an artist's name attached.
Àrẹ̀ògún of Òsi, the Adúgbológun workshop of Abẹ́òkúta, Olówè of Ìṣẹ̀ and the carving lineages, and why so much of their work sits in museums labelled only "Yoruba."
The figure credited in tradition with founding both Ọ̀yọ́ and the second Benin dynasty, what the traditions say, where they conflict, and why the stone monolith bearing his name cannot date him.