Yoruba Female Shrine Figure from the Erinle Cult Group, Apala Shrine, Ilobu, Nigeria

Photographed in situ at Ilobu by Ulli Beier before 1957
K. John Hewett, Bog Farm
Private Collection, United States
Sotheby's, New York, November 9, 1993, lot 92
Myron Kunin, Minneapolis, acquired at the above auction

The National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., Treasures, November 17, 2004 - August 15, 2005

Ulli Beier, "The Story of Sacred Wood Carvings from One Small Yoruba Town," Nigeria Magazine, Lagos, 1957, pls. 5 and 12A
Sharon F. Patton, Treasures, Washington, 2004, unpaginated portfolio
George Chemeche, Eshu: The Divine Trickster, Woodbridge, 2013, pp. 236-237

Good condition for an object of this type and age. Age cracks to proper right side of face, with fill, and to center front of torso and abdomen, as seen in catalogue photographs and archival photos from the 1950s. Wedge-shaped open age crack to proper left foot extending into integrally-carved plinth. Erosion to underside of plinth. Shallow insect damage and age cracks in top of coiffure. Metal inlay tarnished. Fine light medium brown patina with remains of stain and blue pigment. Fixed permanently to modern base.
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.

In the early 1950s Ulli Beier, a preceptor at the University of Ibadan, traveled widely in southwestern Yorubaland.  As he became fluent in the Yoruba language, he was fascinated with the myths, rituals, and festivals through which the Yoruba gave expression to a complex and  insightful cosmology.  As a professor of literary and visual art he was enchanted by the oral literature, oriki, sung in the celebration of persons, places, and gods, and the rich imagination and skill with which an abundance of shrine sculpture was created.  In 1957 Beier published two essays in special editions of Nigeria Magazine.  The first, entitled, "The Story of Sacred Wood Carvings From One Small Yoruba Town," and the second, "A Year of Sacred Festivals in One Yoruba Town."  The town was Ilobu in the Ilesha area, located a few miles north of Oshogbo, near Erin and Ede, and south of the Igbomina crowned town of Ila-Orangun.  The village of Erin was well known for the sculptures of the master carver, Maku, his son, Toibo, and others who were affiliated with them.  The palace of the Timi of Ede with its famous shrine to orisha Ogun, deity of iron and war, had thirty or forty shrine sculptures carved by carvers from Oshogbo, Ibadan, Ilobu, Erin, Ila-Orangun, and many other towns and villages.  Particular carvings were often acquired for a shrine on the instruction of Ifa divination, at times requiring the devotee to journey to a neighboring town seeking a carver who was well known for his skill and knowledge in creating appropriate sculptures for a particular orisa or the headdress for an ancestral masquerade. Other sculptures might be inherited from a deceased family member, in particular a parent of deceased twins or one who was a devotee of a particular orisha.

Beier photographed and documented the present figure during his stay at Ilobu (see Beier 1957: pls. 5 and 12A).  The vertical age crack and signs of wear which one sees in the figure today were present already in those images, suggesting that at that time it was already of considerable age.

A female figure and a horserider from the same group, previously in the collection of Nancy and Richard Bloch, is today in the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University, Atlanta, and was sold at Sotheby's, New York, May 11, 2012, lot 127.