Kneeling pair "onile" figures ·  Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3048356

Description

lead and tin alloy (“oje”), rest. (male figure), base

The “onile” figures represent the original founders, male and female, of the community. They are considered particularly powerful.

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 “onile” figures with the object ID 3048356 was last part of the auction 97th Auction at November 6, 2021 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 264 achieved a sales price of EUR 600.

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Comparing literature

Witte, Hans, Earth and the Ancestors, Ogboni Iconography, Amsterdam 1988, p. 142 ff.