Yoruba iconography is characterized by beautiful
proportions and autonomy of motif. Spirit deities
appear on a vast variety of objects from diviner
plates to bracelets, such as on this remarkable
example. It is of a type worn by royalty and
persons of high rank in the Ijebu region. The
intricate latticework centers around the faces of
the four figures. There features resemble those
of the ancestral Onile, with their bulbous eyes
and intense expression. Being both human and
divine, their bodies alternate between realism
and abstraction as they revolve around the
bracelet, propelled by their own inner energy.
This bracelet would have been seen as both an
ornament of prestige and also an object of
power, worn by someone who possessed
sufficient authority to warrant wearing images of
divine beings. Whether worn or displayed, this
bracelet combines art and religion in a work of
art of mystical proportions.
- (PF.4897)
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