Lot 238
West Africa, Nigeria, Yoruba culture, ca. 20th century CE. A wonderful pair of hand-carved wood figures - one nude male with exposed genitalia and one semi-nude female with a bare-chest - known as ere ibeji, each adorned in lovely strands of glass and shell beads at their wrists, hips, necks, and ankles. Both standing with hands on hips atop integral plinths, each figure displays tubular limbs, a slender torso, broad hips and shoulders, and a sizable head crowned by a crested headdress. Each gaze forward from huge, bulging eyes with generous lids above broad noses, and closed lips flanked by incised striations of ceremonial scarification. Metal inlays embellish the pupils of the male and the navel of the female. Size (both about the same): 4" W x 12.3" H (10.2 cm x 31.2 cm)
The Yoruba have one of the highest number of twin births in the world, four times higher than in Europe, for example. Ibeji are known to the Yoruba as two people who share one soul. If one of the human twins dies, whether as a child or an adult, the surviving human twin is considered to have little hope of living with only half a soul. Further, the deceased's soul must have a place to reside. Wooden figures, like this pair, keep the souls of the twins together. When a matched pair of twins is made, it is an indication that both human twins have died. This pair shows darkened, worn, and smooth surfaces which convey the devotion and respect to the Ibeji spirit. "Ultimately, the surface of an Ibeji measures the object's spiritual value to the caregiver. The response of the Yoruba mothers and caregivers is primarily personal and spiritual, not aesthetic. Even an Ibeji carved by a mediocre artisan can develop a surface reflecting great efficacy to the believer. The wood is worked, fed, oiled, and clothed not so much to fulfill an aesthetic ideal but to fulfill a human need ".... from 'Ibeji Surface Analysis' by Charles Bordogna, in 'Surfaces' ed. Kahan, Page, Imperato, 2009 by Indiana Univ. Press. Thus, the Yoruba have traditionally had a high rate of multiple births and have always valued twins as special. When a twin dies, a figure dedicated to Ibeji, the deity of twins, is carved to be the earthly abode of the spirit of that twin. The figure is then nurtured by the mother and/or the surviving twin.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-Lynne Rosen collection, New York, USA, 1990s
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#173913
- Condition: Losses to crests of both. Both have expected nicks, abrasions, and stable fissures, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, excellent with nice preservation of beads and detail, as well as great patina to wood.
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