Female bowl bearer "arugba shango
Nigeria, Yoruba
sold
EUR 3,500
Provenance
Mareidi & Gert Stoll, Munich, Germany (coll. in situ, 1965-67)Zemanek-Münster, 22 March 2014, Lot 479
Bettina Rübesam, Munich, Germany
Size
H: 78 cm
H: 30.7 inch
Description
wood, colour pigments, glass beads, rest.
These bowl-bearing figures were placed at shrines of “shango”, the god of thunder and lightning. They are mostly found among the Igbomina and Ekiti tribes in North-Eastern Yorubaland.
The female figure represents a priestess of the cult. She wears a bowl (“arugba”) on her head, which was used to store neolithic celts that were repeatedly brought to light by peasants working in the fields. The stone celts were thought to be thunderbolts “edun ara”, as they were hurled to earth by “shango”.
Expertise
Certificate of Authenticity, Karl-Ferdinand Schädler, Munich, 26.5.2014Publications
AHDRC: 0145177