A Yoruba, Southern Ekiti, Efon-Alaye, female altar base, possibly by Agbonbiofe (d. 1945) or the Adeshina atelier

kneeling on a cylindrical platform, the figure with a loin cloth framed by arms held tightly to the sides and gripping implements, the head with distinctive features including a pointed chin and lips and a broad nose bisecting large prominent eyes and pointed backswept ears and wearing a tall conical coiffure surmounted by a hemispherical element with a face in relief; '83' on base; decorated overall with stripes and crosshatching; aged surface with white, black, red and yellow pigments.

Acquired from William H. Wolff, New York, June 6, 1964

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee Public Museum, Selections from The William W. Brill Colllection of African Art, 1969: 24, catalogue of the exhibition, Milwaukee Public Museum, May 5 - August 31, 1969 (for additional venues see bibliography, Milwaukee 1969)

See Abiodun, Drewal and Pemberton (1991: 92, figure 105), for a closely related altar base from the collection of The Rietberg Museum, Zurich. The Rietberg altar depicts a male equestrian figure, and could be the companion to the Brill altar in terms of the overall proportions, treatment of the pigment and the particularly angular treatment of the facial features.