- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Iya beji carved wooden figure of a mother with twins. The mother is seated and is nursing one child while the other is on her back. [JMC 24/9/2019]
- Long description
- Iya beji carved wooden figure of a mother with twins. The female figure is seated on a three-legged stool and is nursing one child, laid across her knees and suckling at her left breast while holding her right, while another is held in a baby carrier at her back and is looking right. The baby carrier has a carved triangular decoration with tassels at the corners. The mother is wearing a long necklace of tubular beads, four bracelets on each wrist, a large disc in each ear and has her hair arranged in a high, peaked, crested hairstyle. The whole figure is set onto a hollow cuboid plinth, comprising a square platform at the top and bottom, each with a chip-carved border along the edge, separated by four raised arches. [JMC 24/9/2019]
- Cultural groups
- Yoruba
- Date / Period
- Date made: 1970
- Date collected
- 1970
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 22/07/2019
- Materials and processes
- Material Wood Plant, Process Carved
- Dimensions
- Height: max 465 mm, Depth: max 120 mm, Width: max 137 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 2019.23.9
- Research and responses
The artist's name is given by the donors as 'Bamgboye', probably Bamgboye of Odo-Owa (c.1895 - 1978), meaning he would have carved this sculpture at the age of approximately 75. Bamgboye was considered one of the greatest Yoruba master carvers of the 20th Century and was Chief Alaga of Odo-Owa, Ekitit. [JMC 24/9/2019]
This sculpture is an 'Iya beji', a mother of twins, a common subject of Yoruba sculpture. Twins and mothers of twins are highly revered in Yoruba culture. [JMC 24/9/2019]
Search terms: Figure
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