a yoruba bowl for ifa divination

AGERE IFA

Details

a yoruba bowl for ifa divination
agere ifa
The support carved as a horseman surrounded by eight figures; an Egungun masker with two attendants and drummer, two maternity figures, a soldier holding a gun and leading a prisoner, the shallow bowl above with incised ornament to the broad rim, on circular base, painted in various colours, from Ketu
33.5cm. high

Literature

Drewal. H., Pemberton, J. and Abiodun, R., Yoruba Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought, New York, 1989, p.215, fig. 248

Lot Essay

When photographed by H.J. Drewal in the field in 1978, this bowl was complete with a carved latticework cover which has since been lost. Drewal (op. cit. p.218) attributes this bowl to a 19th century Ketu master carver and writes: "One unknown Ketu master did a series of Ifa divination cups for such powerful patrons as Balogun Ibikunle, head of the Ibadan forces during the Ijaye wars of 1850-60. A king at Abeokuta also commissioned a divination cup from this Ketu master. It depicts a marvelously diverse scene of soldiers and their prisoners, mothers nursing, an Egungun masker, his attendants and drummer, and a chief on horseback."

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