Equestrian Shrine Figure (Ojúbọ Ẹlẹ́ṣin) Depicting a Priestess of Ọya
Artist: Moshood Olúṣọmọ Bámigbóyè (Kájọlà, Kwara State, Nigeria, ca. 1885–1975)
1920–40
This sculptural group was part of a shrine for the goddess Oya, wife of Sàngó, deified king of Old Oyo and god of thunder and lightening. The central figure, a priestess of Oya, is mounted on horseback and holds a royal fan and a rooster for sacrifice. On her forehead is the inverted double celt staff of Sàngó. On her left are a trumpeter and a soldier; on her right, a male and female couple stands with a drummer. Behind her on the horse, a male figure donning a female hairstyle carries the ritual bags of a Sàngó priest. A royal servant and messenger hold the horses reins. The equestrian priestess's cool composure is conveyed by her expressionless face, her perfectly balanced posture, and the colors of white and blue.
Audio Guides
James Green, Curator
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My name is James Green. I'm the Frances and Benjamin Benenson Foundation Assistant Curator of African Art.
This is one of the highlights of the Yale University Art Gallery's African collection. This is from the Ekiti Yorùbán peoples in northeastern Yorùbáland, in modern-day Nigeria. It's attributed to the workshop of Yorùbán master sculptor Bámigbóyè of Odo Owa. Bámigbóyè was one of the best-known sculptors in this region. He was born around 1893, and by the 1920s, he had already established a thriving workshop in Odo Owa and would remain active until his death in 1978. So it's amazing to think that he was born before the colonial period, and he produced works all the way through the British colonial period into the postcolonial period.
What you see here is a female figure riding a horse. This seems to have been a permanent sculpture that would've been placed in a shrine. The figure represented on the horse is thought to be a priestess. She's a devotee coming to pay homage to Oya, who's the wife of the deified King Shango. She's carrying a sacrificial rooster in one hand and, in her other hand, the royal fan. You can see that she's both got religious power and political power.
She's carrying these two symbols, and she's surrounded by a coterie of figures that further stress the different sources of her authority and also give a sense of Yorùbán society. On her back, there is a figure. He's a man who appears to be wearing a woman's elaborate hairstyle, and he's carrying one of the bags of a Shango priest. And so he follows her. Then surrounding her, there are musicians. There's a figure beating a drum, and then there are these two figures touching each other's genitalia. The combined figures give a sense of the vibrancy of Ekiti society.
It's interesting to think of what the role of the sculptor was in an Ekiti Yorùbán community. Bámigbóyè was both a regionally renowned and increasingly world-renowned sculptor. But he was also an Ifa priest, and he was the chief of the Odo Owa; he held the title of "Alaga," or chief. He was essentially one of the pillars of the community, and the works that he creates were intended to celebrate the founding heroes of the community.
- Medium
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Possibly ire (rubber tree) and pigment
- Dimensions
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29 1/8 × 14 in. (74 × 35.5 cm)
- Credit Line
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Charles B. Benenson, B.A. 1933, Collection
- Accession Number
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2006.51.86
- Geography
- Culture
- Period
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20th century
- Classification
- Disclaimer
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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
Provenance
John Friede (born 1938), New York. Pace Gallery, New York, by March 27, 1980; sold to Charles B. Benenson (1913–2004, b.a. 1933), Greenwich, Conn., March 27, 1980; bequeathed to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2004Bibliography
- Christopher O. Adejumo, "Pragmatism in Yoruba Art," in "Dada Areogun's Narrative Woodcarving as Cultural Stewardship," special issue, African Arts 57, no. 2 (2024), 26, fig. 10
- James Green et al., Bámigbóyè: A Master Sculptor of the Yorùbá Tradition, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2022), 125–29, 163–64, 192, 197n93, 204, 206–7, 209, fig. 81, 104, 125
- Matthew Monteith, "The Explainers," in "Teaching with Art," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2013), 66, ill.
- Christine Kreamer, African Cosmos: Stellar Arts, exh. cat. (New York: The Monacelli Press, 2012), 216–17, fig. 12.1
- Frederick John Lamp, Amanda Maples, and Laura M. Smalligan, Accumulating Histories: African Art from the Charles B. Benenson Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2012), 121, ill.
- George Chemeche, ed., The Horse Rider in African Art (London: Antique Collector's Club Ltd., 2011), 120–21
- 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), 42, 45, fig. 9, 17
- Barkley L. Hendricks, "Acquisitions, July 1, 2005–June 30, 2006," in "Photography at Yale," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2006), 222, 227, ill.
- Susan Vogel and Jerry L. Thompson, Closeup: Lessons in the Art of Seeing African Sculpture from an American Collection and the Horstmann Collection, exh. cat. (New York: Museum for African Art, 1990), 144–45, fig. 74
- William B. Fagg, Yoruba, Sculpture of West Africa, ed. B. Holcombe (New York: Pace Primitive, 1982), 126 -127, no. 37, fig. 37
- Roslyn Adele Walker, African Women / African Art, exh. cat. (New York, NY: African-American Institute, 1976), 27, no. 36, fig. 13
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