Yoruba Wood Ibeji Standing Female Twin Figure

West Africa, Nigeria, Yoruba. A carved wood ibeji, a Yoruba twin figure, representing a nude woman standing frontally on a rounded base. Her tall crested coiffure is combed with herringbone incisions that run from brow to nape. Below it, large almond eyes framed by incised lids sit above a short nose and full, pursed lips. The breasts hang low and the torso is slender. Long arms fall close to the body and end in finely incised fingers, and the toes on the base are cut in the same way. A triangular panel of crosshatching below the navel perhaps represents abdominal scarification, a mark of beauty and fertility among Yoruba women, or a beaded apron. The brown surface has a soft sheen in places, likely from handling, which suits a figure meant to be held, washed, and fed in memory of a lost twin. The Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria have one of the highest rates of twin births recorded anywhere. Twins (ibeji, from "ibi", born, and "eji", two) are treated as special beings, linked with the thunder orisha Shango and thought to bring good or bad fortune to the household. When a twin died, a diviner (babalawo) might advise the parents to commission an ere ibeji, a carved figure that housed the child's spirit. The mother looked after the figure as she would a living child. She bathed it, rubbed it with camwood or other cosmetics, dressed it, offered it food, and carried it during ceremonies honoring twins. Carvers did not make ibeji as portraits of infants. They depicted the twin as an idealized adult, with mature sexual characteristics, an elaborate coiffure, and body marks, an image of the life the child was expected to have lived. Regional workshops gave each figure its own proportions and its own treatment of hair, eyes, and mouth. Because of these differences, scholars group ibeji by town and carving family. Body scarification (kolo) once had a social and aesthetic role in Yoruba life. Patterns on a woman's abdomen were associated with beauty, maturity, and fertility. Carvers often reproduced these marks on figures as incised grids or chevrons. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 203951

Estimate:$350

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