Female bowl bearer "arugba shango · Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3048714
sold
EUR 4,500
Provenance
Galerie Schwarz-Weiß, Essen, Germany (1969)Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 24 February 2007, Lot 434
Werner Zintl, Worms, Germany
Size
H: 69 cm
D: 40 cm (bowl)
H: 27.2 inch
D: 15.7 inch (bowl)
Description
wood, encrusted red patina, indigoblue pigment, glass beads, cracks, 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”.
Comparing literature
Homberger, Lorenz (Hg.), Yoruba. Kunst und Ästhetik in Nigeria, Zürich 1991, p. 27