Bowl carier Figure – Wood – Yoruba – Nigeria

Enormous Yoruba (Shango) bowl carier figure from Nigeria.

One of the most famous Divination (Ifa) is practiced to explain misfortunes and help to prevent them. The diviner, in consulting a diety, manipulates sixteen palm nuts, reads the patterns they form and marks the results on a divination board sprinkled with wood dust. The marks indicate verses that should be chanted as prayers. The bowls are used to hold kola nuts as offerings of hospitality or as receptacles for the sixteen sacred palm nuts used in divination.
Great patina of age with traces of wear and tear. The mother carries a child on her back. And there is a small figure standing next to her.

Powerful appearance with great patina of use. Large and big object, total weight: 22 kg!

Provenance: Manfred Schäfer, former gallery owner from Ulm (Germany).

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