Female figure
date: label: Date
content: Mid 19th century
name: label: Maker
content: Yoruba artist
notes: label: Label Text
content: 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.
label: Label Text
content: This female figure wears bridal waist beads. She holds a flywhisk decorated with cowrie shells and wears a lip plug and jewelry signifying high status. She may also have held a separately carved fan that is now lost. 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.
label: Label Text
content: 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.
label: Description
content: Standing female ivory figure with conical hairstyle, necklace, waistbeads and labret and holding a flywhisk in her proper right hand, with the proper left hand object missing. The eyes are inlaid with black stone.
label: Provenance
content: [Art dealer], New York, -- to 1975
label: Provenance
content: Morris Pinto, France, ca. 1975 to 1983
label: Provenance
content: Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, 1983
label: Provenance
content: Entwistle, London, 1983
label: Provenance
content: Robert Loder, England, 1983 to 1985
label: Provenance
content: Entwistle, London, 1985
label: Exhibition History
content: Treasures 2008, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., April 9-August 24, 2008
label: Published References
content: Hornbeck, Stephanie. 2016. "Ivory: I dentification and Regulation of a Precious Material." National Museum of African Art Conservation Lab publication. p.8.
label: Published References
content: 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.
label: Published References
content: Patton, Sharon F. and Bryna Freyer. 2008. Treasures 2008. Washington D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 22-23.
label: Content Statement
content: As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
label: Image Requests
content: High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
place: label: Geography
content: Owo, Nigeria
topic: label: Topic
content: Divination
label: Topic
content: Status
label: Topic
content: male
label: Topic
content: female
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African Art Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Acquisition grant from the James Smithson Society and museum purchase
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Object number
content: 85-9-1
objectType: label: Type
content: Figure
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ivory, black stone
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 30.2 x 5.3 x 8.6 cm (11 7/8 x 2 1/16 x 3 3/8 in.)