A rare Yoruba, Northern Ekiti, slit drum

agere, the body of cylindrical, ovoid form, with a central, hollowed slit beneath the elongated neck supporting the head with pouting lips, a broad nose and large, protruding, deeply outlined eyes, with backswept ears and wearing a coiffure composed of five conical tufts; '8' on bottom of base; heavily encrusted, blackened patina overall.

Acquired in the early 1960s

New York, The Center for African Art, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought, September 20, 1989 - January 7, 1990 (for additional venues see bibliography Drewal, Pemberton, Abiodun 1989)

Drewal, Pemberton, Abiodun 1989: 191, figure 221

In his discussion of the Brill slit drum, Pemberton notes that ‘slit drums of this type, known as agere, are found almost exclusively in the Ekiti area. They are made for hunters and are played by women at various rites of passage, such as weddings and chieftancy ceremonies. They are also played at a hunter’s funeral by his wife, while she and her co-wives sing their husband’s praise songs, oriki’ (in Drewal, Pemberton, Abiodun 1989: 190).