Olowe Of Ise's Palace Door

Last Wednesday, I went to the National Museum of African Art and I discovered a great piece of art. The piece I picked out was Olowe of Ise’s Palace Door. The piece was originally carved to be the right side of the door of the royal palace of Ikere located in Nigeria. The materials that this door panel is made out of are iroko wood, which is very hard and pigment was also used to develop the colors of the piece. Olowe of Ise, who was arguably the most well known Yoruba artist of the 20th century, created this piece from 1904- 1910 in Nigeria. This piece was not produced in a large factory like El Antatsui’s Old Man’s Cloth, but instead it was hand carved by the artist Olowe along with one other side for the royal palace of Ikere. The Yoruba people are one of the largest African ethnic groups south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of them living in Nigeria.
During the golden years of slavery, the Yoruba territory was known as the “Slave Coast” because of the massive numbers of Yoruba people, which were transported to the Americas. Their descendants preserved Yoruba traditions in Nigeria, but in several parts of the “New World” the Yoruba religion has been combined with Christianity. In 1893, the Yoruba kingdoms in Nigeria became territories of Great Britain until 1960 when Nigeria became independent of Britain. This door illustrates the encounter of the first British administrator Captain W.G Ambrose and the Ise king around 1900. The piece’s purposes include commemorating an event in history as well as functioning as a door for the royal palace of