Kneeling female figure "onile" · Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3039578
sold
EUR 1,500
Provenance
Christie’s Paris, 10 June 2008, lot 70Size
H: 28 cm
H: 11.0 inch
Description
brass, both hands showing the “ogboni” gesture, handwritten collection number “173” at the bottom, traces of corrosion, small missing parts;
“onile” figures may appear in pairs. They are called “owner of the house” resp. “father and mother, owner of the house”. “House” means the building in which the members of the “ogboni” society stay and were these figures are kept.
Comparing literature
Dobbelmann, Th.A.H.M., Der Ogboni-Geheimbund, Berg en Dal 1976, ill. 95