This well-used female figure represents one of
Africa’s most enduring and charming sculptural
traditions. It was carved by a diviner of the
Yoruba group, at the request of a woman who
had lost one of her twins. In fear of losing the
other to malevolent spirits, she would
commission this piece to fool them into believing
that the dead twin was still alive, and that their
divided spirit need not be taken away. It is
essentially traditional in design, but is carved in
an unusually vigorous and cubist manner. The
base is round and integral, leading up to
nugatory feet and short legs and then what may
be a skirt or related garment. The breadth of the
piece is heightened by the fact that the hands are
resting on each hip, with very limited detail. The
torso is blocky and angular, with rounded
shoulders, pointed breasts and a long, thick
neck. The Head is narrow and long, with a high,
crested coiffure decorated with incised lines. The
face is slightly asymmetrical, with the figure’s
left eye higher than the right. The nose is long,
with a narrow bridge and a wide base. The
mouth is simply incised. The face is decorated
with four vertical incisions on each cheek and
small block incisions by the eyes. The figure is
wearing a strand of light blue trade beads
around the neck. These were essentially money
for the Yoruba, so this may be viewed as
something of an extravagant gesture. The
patination is superb.
The Yoruba peoples of Nigeria have what is
probably the longest extant artistic tradition in
Africa. The nation state is comprised of
numerous subsections that were joined
historically by the rise and collapse of the Ife
(12th to 15th centuries) and Benin (13th to 19th
centuries) polities. Each of the sub-kingdoms –
including Oyo, Ijebu and smaller units towards
the west – had their heyday, and are loosely
united through language and culture, although
they still retain a measure of independence in
terms of their artistic traditions. It is extremely
hard to summarise the nature of Yoruba society
given the large area they cover and the inevitable
variability of their customs.
The Yoruba are sedentary, agriculturist and
hierarchical, and are ruled by hereditary kings
known as Obas. Access to the supernatural world
is supervised by a very complex arrangement of
priests and spiritual intermediaries, who straddle
the cosmological border between the tangible
realm of the living (aye) and the invisible realm
of the spirits and the hereafter (orun). The
creator of the world is Olodumare – the source of
all ase (life force) – and his spiritual minions
include all manner of spirits, gods and ancestors
who can be appealed to or appeased through
human intermediaries. Most Yoruban artistic
heritage is designed to thwart evil spirits, and to
placate or honour those that bring good fortune
to the populace.
Yoruba populations have the world’s highest
prevalence of twinning (45/1000 live births –
compared to 8/1000 in the US), and this fact has
been woven into their mythology, culture and art.
Twins are promulgated by Shango, and are
regarded as auspicious. However, the mortality
rate of twins is very high. According to Yoruba
convention, twins share a single soul. If one
should die, the spirits may take away the second
twin as well. To avoid this, the babalawo (diviner)
carves a figure of the same sex as the deceased
child: this figure is known as an ere ibeji. The
mother must wash, dress, feed and anoint the
wooden figure as if it were alive.
The appearance of the figures depends entirely
upon the skill of the carver, as only the sex of
the individual is specifically determined. The
specific social history of the area, and its
contacts with other areas or cultures, does
determine the final appearance of the figures.
For example, the hair of some individuals is
rubbed with indigo dye, and the bodies with red
camwood powder, while tribe-specific
scarifications enable one to determine the origin
of the figure within the Yoruba polity. Equally,
most ibeji are naked, but socially elevated
families often wish to manifest their wealth
through dressing the figure in ornate clothing or
jewellery.
The current piece commemorates the dead
daughter of a grieving family. This is a beautiful
yet poignant piece of African art.
