Very rare royal Yoruba Ibedji pair from Nigeria, They are presented standing up, their body covered from a sumptuous clothing embellished with a multitude of neatly arranged cowries. Of a male type, their hands are placed on their hips and the top of their sex as well as the belly which presents linear scars. On the upper abdomen they wear an important triangular pendant embellished by a hatched decoration.

Their face with an alert expression ends in beak-shaped mouth and their diamond shaped eyes are sculpted in relief. The headdress forming a sagittal crest is enriched by side braids sculpted by regular cascading furrows. These works present a used patina resulting from an important ritualistic use, as well as an amalgam of mineral dyes red ocher and yellow with which they were rubbed.

Origin :

• Old collection of the Docteur Maillant, African and Oceania art collector, as well as an exceptional ancient manuscripts collection

Exposition :

• résonnances des arts primitifs, early 1960 at the profit of the Royaumont Abbaye’s cultural circle
• Galerie J. Peron faubourg Saint Honoré Paris

Bibliography :

• These works are to be compared to the old Keller collection, New York, the Kunstmuseum in Bern and the Arman collection.

Reproduced in :

• quelques impressions d’Afrique, Pierre Hanon, La différence 1996 P,214 et 215