A female ibeji from the Oshogbo region of Yorubaland. There are two necklaces made of glass-beads around the neck and there are also glass-beads around the waist. Traces of camwood powder on the body and feet.
Slight damage, one breast is missing.
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. |
