A superb female Ibeji figure from the Igbomina Region of Nigeria.
Typical Igbomina hair style with the partial remains of camwood powder on the whole body. The figure has a string of glass-beads around the waist as well as a metal anklet on the left leg.
An Ibeji is used as a container for the soul of a dead twin. The Yoruba believe that the souls of twins are connected to each other and the a dead twin must be looked after exactly like a living child in that it is fed, bathed and spoken to.
Lit.: "Doppel-Leben Ibeji Zwillingsfiguren der Yoruba" - Hanni Jantzen
"Beads, Body and Light in the Yoruba Universe" - Henry Drewal and John Mason - 1998
"Ibeji - The Cult of the Yoruba Twins" - George Chemeche, text by John Pemberton III and John Picton - 2003
"Ibeji - Zwillingsfiguren der Yoruba" - Mareidi und Gert Stoll - 1980
"A Closer Look - Local Styles in the Yoruba Art Collection of the Afrika Museum , Berg en Dal" - Hans Witte - 2004. | 
