Aesthetic Determinants in the Pottery Tradition of the Urhobo People of Nigeria’s Niger Delta

Abstract

Pottery practice is one of the three-dimensional enterprises of the Urhobo people who inhabit part of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The people are also known for the production of massive sculptures in wood and mud. Many of the pottery products of the people are, as is the case with their sculptures, configurations of volumes. The expressiveness of these pots is, in part, determined by the way in which the constituting volumes meet each other. In most literature that is available on this art practice of the people, this structural feature is diminished in importance or not considered as a contributing element to the general aesthetics of the ware. This paper interrogates the structural elements that constitute the pots. This is done by dissembling the pots into their structural components (volumes) and analyzing the manner of their coming together to constitute the pot. The findings show that two basic transitions are used as aesthetic attributes in the pottery products from the study area. The study also reaffirms that the extent to which an object satisfies the purpose for which it is made is a strong determinant of the aesthetic value ascribed to the object by the people.