Kneeling pair of figures "onile" · Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3035257
Description
brass with patina, nearly identical, the male figure with pipe, min. dam., small missing parts, slight traces of corrosion;
regardless of their seize, the “onile” which were especially consecrated, were more powerful than the “edan” couples. They were hidden inside of “ogboni” houses (“iledi”). They symbolize the founders of the community. According to Witte they were used for delivering decisive messages in case of conflicts between “ogboni” members. The figure was wrapped in a cloth and sent to a person who had something to answer for. A white parrot feather indicated that the matter could be settled amicably, but a red feather was an outright threat of condemnation.
The object Kneeling pair of figures “onile” with the object ID 3035257 was last part of the auction 74th tribal art auction at September 7, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 281 achieved a sales price of EUR 3,500.
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Comparing literature
Dobbelmann, Th.A.H.M., Der Ogboni-Geheimbund, Berg en Dal 1976, ill. 97 Witte, Hans, Earth and the Ancestors, Ogboni Iconography, Amsterdam 1988, p. 70, ill. 12