Divination Board (Ọpọ́n Ifá)

19th century

African Art

Not on view

Divination for the Yoruba is a process that determines the will of the sacred realm. The diviner, or babalawo, is the master of Ifa, a complex system of orally transmitted texts; he memorizes these texts and interprets them in accordance with the demands of a given social or spiritual problem. The two faces that appear on this tray in low relief amid a flock of sixteen birds belong to Èsù, the spirit who transports divine messages and sacrifices between heaven and earth. The tray is covered in white powder, palm nuts are cast onto it, and the babalawo interprets the pattern left by the nuts. At the start of the ceremony and during it, a tapper is struck on the side of the tray to attract the attention of Orunmila, a deity who knows the fate of all human beings.

Medium

Wood

Dimensions

22 × 22 × 1 in. (55.88 × 55.88 × 2.54 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James M. Osborn for the Linton Collection of African Art

Accession Number

1954.28.34

Geography

Offa, Kwara State, Guinea Coast, Nigeria

Culture

Yorùbá, Ìgbómìnà subgroup

Period

19th century

Classification

Containers

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Acquired by Leo Frobenius (1873–1938), Germany, during his Nigeria–Cameroon expedition, from a grave near Offa, Kwara State, Nigeria, 1910–12 (Frobenius Institute Register no. kba 10297). Ralph Linton (1893–1953), New Haven, Conn., by 1953 [see note]; by descent to his wife, Adelin Hohlfield Linton (1899–1977), New Haven, Conn., 1953; sold to Marie-Louise Montgomery Osborn (1905–1968) and James Marshall Osborn (1906–1976), New Haven, Conn., 1954; given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1954

NOTE: Ralph Linton was the Sterling Professor of Anthropology at Yale from 1946 until his death in 1953. His collection forms the foundation of the African art collection at the Yale University Art Gallery.




Bibliography

  • Frederick John Lamp, "Hot Space, Cool Space: The Reinstallation of the African Art Collection in the Louis Kahn Building at Yale University," African Arts 40 (Summer 2007): 36, fig. 1.
  • Leo Frobenius, The Voice of Africa: Being an Account of the Travels of the German Inner African Exploration Expedition in the Years 1910–1912
    , 2 (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1913), 624, fig. 1.

Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

trays

Subject

birds (animals) divination faces (animal or human component) snakes

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