YORUBA

Ivory Figure, Owo Kingdom

Female ivory figure, kneeling on a thick round plinth, with a slender upper body and straight back. In her hands she holds an elaborately carved sacrificial chicken and a flat box of the kind used in divination ceremonies. Old brown to almost black patina, the arrangement of which suggests that this object once belonged to a right-handed fortune teller.

The function of these ivory figurines is not entirely clear - one reason for this may be their rarity. They are possibly related to the olori ikin, the miniature ivory heads used by the Ifa diviners in their divination rituals. Or they are small relatives of the better known tappers.

Yoruba Culture, Nigeria ,
Ivory, 17 cm,
Before 1900
Acquired 1956 by Lore Kegel in Nigeria