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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:10:26 GMT
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:15:23 GMT
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:17:45 GMT
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:18:49 GMT
Ife Wooden Divination Tray, Areogun of Osi-Ilorin, Nigeria; Yoruba People, about 1880 - 1956.This is a fine example of African graphic design. The tray depicts some of the most important fortunes, that are at the heart of Yoruba philosophy: a healthy long life, wealth, love, children, wisdom and security. All these good fortunes are conveyed by the graphic designer of this tray .Eshu, the god who mediates between the world of the spirit and the human world symbolizes a healthy long life and is carved at the top of this tray. At the bottom, a kneeling woman with a child on her back, presenting offerings in a calabash represents children and fertility. In the left, a soldier stands in guard with a crossbow, he is a symbol of security or victory over the enemies. In the right, a priest of Osanyin, a god of healing and wisdom is depicted. He represents the health, and wisdom . At the lower left, love is represented by a couple making love, and at the lower right, a seated figure, probably a second representation of Eshu closes this circle of life . Representing wealth, a band of cowry shells, formerly used as money in West Africa, runs around the central part of the tray.The diviner sits with the tray in front of him, placed so that Eshu is opposite, facing him.
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:23:30 GMT
Oyo's CavalryThe unusual carving discussed here is of a bearded rider holding the reins in his left hand. He is wearing a short-sleeved tunic and breeches, his coiffure dressed as a long, interlaced pigtail falling to the horse's rump, with white painted eyes, and a sheathed broadsword at the left hip. The horse has a halter carved as rectangular-link chain, its legs clustered on the small, pierced, rectangular base, and painted spots on the saddle cloth. This figure takes the form of an Oyo-Yoruba cavalryman of the highest military grade. It may indeed be a representation of the alafin (king) of Oyo's commander-in-chief ("the esho of the eshos"wink, of whom the Yoruba Samuel Johnson wrote a century ago in his The History of the Yorubas (C.M.S., Lagos, 1921; reprinted 1937). This supremo's office was created about the end of the seventeenth century when the might of Oyo was growing and winning the city prominence in the Atlantic trade.
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:24:47 GMT
Thatch was a much more exciting roofing material than corrugated iron, in my opinion. But I guess that iron probably had several advantages in terms of weatherproofing. Here is another view of a royal Yoruba palace -- at Abeokuta, 1946. This is the Olowu of Owu's palace, I believe. Notice how this royal style involved ridging thatch patterns, but differed from the Oyo imperial style on the first page.
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:25:56 GMT
Abeokuta
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:26:44 GMT
Dated 12th century
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:27:27 GMT
Yoruba wooden polychrome Egungun Headress mask
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:28:16 GMT
Nigeria - Yoruba Gelede Mask
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:30:18 GMT
The doors of the African Room at the Kennedy Center In Washindgton, D.C.
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:31:06 GMT
Ife terracotta. Child of Obatala (creation divinity). The sculpture probably depicts a ritual specialist indicated by the bead on his forehead and the skull pendant.
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:31:52 GMT
Quartz stool from shrine at Oluorogbo, Ife, Nigeria, now in British Museum, London, United Kingdom
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:34:35 GMT
Torso with beaded necklaces, Ife, Igbo Kubolaje. Terracotta, 12th-14th century. Bracelet of birds pecking at bound humans, Ife, brass, 14th-15th century. Ram figure, Osangangan Obamakin, Ife. Terracotta, 12th-15th century.
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Post by Shymmex on Dec 5, 2015 13:36:25 GMT
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