Female figure

Object Details

Label Text

The earliest extant examples of ivory carving from Nigeria, designated "Afro-Portuguese," were produced between the 15th and 17th centuries. Current research suggests that Owo, a Yoruba kingdom situated between the Edo kingdom at Benin City and the Yoruba capital at Ile-Ife, may have been the center of Yoruba ivory carving. Owo artists, primarily employed by their Olowo (king) but free to have other patrons, may have exported ivory carvings to other Yoruba towns, such as Oyo, and to Europe, and they may have worked as itinerant artists in such towns as Benin, where they tailored their designs to local taste.

This female figure wears bridal waist beads. Stylistic traits from the Oyo and Owo regions can be seen in the carving: cone-shaped hairstyles with cylindrical projections, the prominent bulging eyes, thick necks, triangular breasts and softly rounded body.

The function of full ivory figures depicting men or women is not known. They may be related to olori ikin, the miniature ivory heads that Ifa diviners used in the divination ritual.

Description

Kneeling ivory female figure rising from a thick circular base, with a slender torso and a straight back; pendulous breasts, waist beads and hands on navel, and her right hand carved as a clinched fist. Slightly projecting ovoid eyes lead to a triangular flat nose and a conical hairstyle with elaborately incised surface and four projections above ear level on both sides.

Provenance

Georges Rodrigues, New York, -- to 1970

Robert and Nancy Nooter, Washington, D.C., 1970 to 1996

Exhibition History

Treasures 2008, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., April 9-August 24, 2008

Gifts to the National Collection of African Art, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 17, 1997-January 4, 1998

Elephant: The Animal and Its Ivory in African Culture, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles, September 25, 1992-June 1, 1993

African Art in Washington Collections, Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., May 25, 1972-January 1, 1973; Baltimore Museum of Art, 1973

Published References

Gillon, Werner. 1979. Collecting African Art. New York: Rizzzoli; London: Studio Vista, p.102, pl. XIV

National Museum of African Art. 1999. Selected Works from the Collection of the National Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 74, no. 46.

Patton, Sharon F. and Bryna Freyer. 2008. Treasures 2008. Washington D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 20-21.

Ravenhill, Philip. 1998. Gifts to the National Collection of African Art. Exhibition brochure, no. 4.

Ross, Doran (ed). 1992. Elephant: The Animal and Its Ivory in African Culture. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, p. 195, no. 9-13.

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Data Source

National Museum of African Art

Maker

Yoruba artist

Date

Late 19th-early 20th century

Credit Line

Gift of Robert and Nancy Nooter in memory of Sylvia H. Williams

Medium

Ivory

Dimensions

H x W x D: 18 x 3.8 x 4.8 cm (7 1/16 x 1 1/2 x 1 7/8 in.)

Type

Figure