Beschreibung:

height of largest half 4 3/4in (12cm) each half carved in low relief with an oba, holding implements in each hand on one side, being held by attendants on the other. Provenance: Sotheby's, Park, Bernet, New York, October 15, 1977, Lot 571 Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Llwellyn Thomas Evans, sold at Cobbs Auction October 16, 2010, Peterborough, NH Susan and Richard Ulevitch, California (Yale Archive 0061466-01) According to Dennet, At the Back of the Black Man's Mind (Appendix, p. 253), "in the worship of Ifa, the great oracle of the Yoruba country, a prominent object is the igbadu, a covered calabash containing four small vessels made from coconut shells cut into two pieces in the middle. These hold, besides substances unknown to the uninitiated, one a little mud, another a little charcoal, another a little chalk, and another a little camwood, all of which are intended to represent certain divine attributes. This calabash is deposited in a specially prepared wooden box, which is worshipped and never opened except on very special and important occasions, and then not without washing of hands and sacrifice. In the Pitt Rivers collection are two more carved coconut shells exhibiting a similar technique; Pitt Rivers, op. cit., p. 60, pl. 30*, figs. 217-221.