Female figure and lidded vessel [.1] carved from one piece of wood. The vessel is in the form of a cockerel with lid [.2] [DCF Court Team 28/1/2003]

Collection type: Object
Description: Female figure and lidded vessel [.1] carved from one piece of wood. The vessel is in the form of a cockerel with lid [.2] [DCF Court Team 28/1/2003]
Geographical reference: Nigeria
Africa > Western Africa > Nigeria; Ogun State Abeokuta
Cultural groups: Yoruba
Person: Field collector Unknown Collector; PRM source Beatrice Braithwaite Batty
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1916
Date collected: By 1916
Acquisition information: Donated: 1916
Materials and processes: Material Wood Plant, Process Carved
Dimensions: Height: max 365 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1916.35.9.1 Accession number: 1916.35.9.2
Associated publications: Listed as number 27 on page 7 of Art from the Guinea Coast (Pitt Rivers Museum, Illustrated Catalogue No. 1), Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum (1965): 'NIGERIA Western Region ... 28. Kneeling figure of a woman holding [a] casket for palm nuts in the form of a cock, used in Ifa divination. Yoruba (1916.35.9.) (36.5 cm.)'. Also illustrated in black and white in unnumbered plate XII. (For details of exhibition, see under 'Display History'.) [JC 12 9 2013] Illustrated in black and white on page 100 of The Cult of Ifá among the Yoruba, Volume 1: Folk Practice and the Art (Ethnographic Arts and Culture Series, 2), by E. McClelland (London: Ethnographica, 1982). Caption (on page 101) reads: 'Lidded casket, opon igede, to hold the palm nuts for divining. It has a traditional design of a cock stretched out on the lid'. [JC 14 3 2000]

Search terms: Divination Religion, Figure, Vessel, Divination Accessory, Bird Figure

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