Oracle bowl "agere ifa" · Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3035758
sold
EUR 2,000
Provenance
Galerie Schwarz-Weiß, Essen, GermanyKetterer, Munich, 15 December 1990, lot 211
Karl-Ferdinand Schädler, Munich, Germany
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 5.12.1999, Lot 36
Heinz Kolerski, Fellbach near Stuttgart, Germany
Size
H: 26,5 cm
H: 10.4 inch
Description
wood, middle brown patina, kaolin, equestrian figure with spear, rep. (breakages at the base, partly old and cramped with metal bands), missing part (base), cracks, slight traces of abrasion;
the divination bowls serve for keeping the 16 holy nuts (“ikin”), which are used for the questioning of the oracle. During the prophecy, the “babalawo” (priest) spreads the “opon ifa” with flour, throws the palm nuts on the board and generates the oracle from the lines drawn on the plate. The “ifa” oracle is used in whole Yoruba country and similar soothsaying systems are known all over West Africa.
Comparing literature
Eisenhofer, Stefan (Hg.), Kulte, Künstler, Könige in Afrika, Linz 1997, p. 195, ill. III/1.3