Lot 114
  • 114

Yoruba-Ijebu Terracotta Head from an Osugbo Shrine, Nigeria

Estimate
60,000 - 90,000 USD
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Description

  • terracotta
  • Height: 13 1/2 inches (34.3 cm)

Provenance

Private Collection, Brussels
Private European Collection, acquired from the above

Exhibited

Royal Academy of Arts, London, Africa: The Art of a Continent, October 4, 1995 - January 21, 1996; additional venue:
Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, March 1 - May 1, 1996

Literature

Tom Phillips (ed.), Africa: The Art of a Continent, New York, 1995, p. 416, cat. 5.77b

Condition

Good condition for an object of this age, material, and extremely rare type. Minor marks, nicks, scratches, abrasions, and small chips throughout. Old loss to upper part of two vertical braids on proper right side as shown in catalogue illustration. Old loss to back proper left lower part of piece. Both of these losses with patina and dirt accumulated over the breaks indicating that they were probably sustained in situ. Some minor firing cracks including one extending from proper left ear into cheek. Small surface chip to proper left side of coiffure with glue. Approximately 1 - 1 1/2 inches of top of proper left top of pointed coiffure broken and glued with visible seam. Some shallow surface losses including to front of coiffure above forehead, and proper right side of coiffure. Small chips to edges around eyelids, mouth, ears. Exceptionally fine crusty, aged surface with encrustation.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

According to Abioudun, Drewal and Pemberton (1991: 22-23), “the Osugbo society [was] a society of female and male elders of a community.  Osugbo probably had its origins in the sixteenth or seventeenth century among the Ijebu-Yoruba in the southern, coastal area. It subsequently spread west to the Egba-Yoruba and north to the Oyo-Yoruba where it is known as Ogboni.  […] Among the Ijebu-Yoruba, paired bronze figures found in the Osugbo meeting house are known as Onile, ‘Owner of the House’, a reference to the meeting house (iledi), to the female and male elders of the community, and perhaps ultimately to the founding couple and the ‘house of the world’ (ile aye).  In the Ife, Oyo and Igbomina areas Ogboni elders salute Onile, ‘Owner of the earth’ who is viewed as complementary figure to Olodumare, the High God.”

In his discussion of the offered lot on the occasion of the exhibition Africa: The Art of a Continent at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, Henry Drewal (in Phillips 1995: 416-417) suggests that this terracotta head belongs to "a rare corpus of earthen sculptures used to decorate the inner courtyard of Ogboni society lodges or iledi.  [...] The elaborate coiffure frequently appears in other Ogboni artworks and is a wide-spread and important hairstyle for the Yoruba-Ijebu, among whom it is associated with priests and priestesses of the gods, queens and other high-ranking women.  Like the pairing of male and female imagery in edan, the mixing of media (iron and brass) and the use of clay in Ogboni art seem to express the central theme of uniting gendered entities - iron, symbolic of maleness, with brass, associated with femaleness, and earth as the abode of both female and male ancestors." 

Yoruba-Ijebu terracotta sculpture is exceedingly rare and the few known examples show close stylistic proximity:  cf. a male figure in the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution (inv. no. "2005-6-73") and a kneeling female figure (a fragment of a male/female couple) in the Afrika Museum Berg-en-Dal (referenced by Drewal (loc. cit.: 417).  The offered lot shows no break line on its bottom and appears to have been created as an independent head sculpture.  It is the only Yoruba-Ijebu terracotta sculpture known to remain in private hands.