Diviner's bag "apo ifa" · Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3042429
not available anymore
Provenance
Jean-Pierre Laprugne, Paris, FranceSize
H: 21 cm/B: 20 cm (bag)
M: 35 cm x 34 cm (frame)
H: 8.3 inch/B: 7.9 inch (bag)
M: 13.8 inch x 13.4 inch (frame)
Description
cotton fabric, embroidered with strings of polychrome miniature glass beads, three mask faces (“eshu”) on blue ground, glazed/framed;
such bags are used by the “babalawo” (“father of the secrets”) priest of “ifa”, to carry his divination paraphernalia: the 16 palm nuts, a divination chain “opele”, an ivory or wooden tapper and a collection of objects such as shells, stones and small bones that are used to specify the oracle’s pronouncments in more detail.
Comparing literature
Witte, Hans, A Closer Look, Berg en Dal 2004, p. 232