A pair of two male ibejis. There are two strings of beads around the waist of the larger figure. One is of smaller white glass-beads the other in much larger red and blue beads. There is a small amount of damage on the bases of the figures.
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
"A Closer Look - Local Styles in the Yoruba Art Collection of the Afrika Museum , Berg en Dal" - Hans Witte - 2004. |
