Ceramic Beads as Yoruba Art Marker of Transcendence and Power

Abstract

Transcendence and power; ase, amidst Yorùbá is expressed through allegories for concretism of relative status of an official authority and to check power limit. Beads (Ileke) are one of Yorùbá symbolic arts and voguish paraphernalia to denote kings’ transcendence and chieftains’ hierarchies with their classificatory criteria at the regnant apex to the monarchic throne and priests/priestesses’ office to the religious cults. Traditionally, some beads’ designs are sacred to nonmembers of the ruling class or religious cults irrespective of thirst for beauteous and chic elegance. Quasi-religious perceptions and regal designs of these kinds of beads suggest sacerdotal emphasis on the authority of priest and art of gravitas for people in power. Perceptual structure of these arts as power’s veneration and motifs on beads as ceramic art, however, requires examination in order to determine their arrangement and significance to Yoruba political transcendence and power. This study is a socio-cultural inheritance pictured in the Yorùbá system of government and practice of the ceramic art. Through the discussion of political significance of beads as conspicuous symbol of transcendence among the Yorùbá, the paper seeks to provide metaphorical account in the patterns of beads as emblem of power and examine the peculiarity of this art to monarchial structure and religious cults. The study depends on the socio-historical perspectives and phenomenological concepts on different official beads that exemplify hierarchical structure of Yorùbá ruling system for its analysis. Photographs of beads were collated for analysis of rule-governed beads in official signification to each office. The findings of the work reveal the import of beads to the preservation of authority among the Yorùbá people despite acceleration of cultural change and unbridled influence of foreign culture. Evidently, appellations are given to each position for mutually-recognizable power.

Keywords: Art, Beads, Ceramics, Transcendence, Yorùbá