- 114
Yoruba-Ijebu Terracotta Head from an Osugbo Shrine, Nigeria
Description
- terracotta
- Height: 13 1/2 inches (34.3 cm)
Provenance
Private European Collection, acquired from the above
Exhibited
Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, March 1 - May 1, 1996
Literature
Condition
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
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.