Lot: 340

86th Tribal Art Auction

Couple of twin figures "ere ibeji"

Nigeria, Yoruba, Oyo, Ifon

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
Eli Goldmann, Vienna, Austria (collected in situ in the 1950s/60s)
Winfried Rathke, Geisenheim, Germany (1967)
H: 10.8 inch (male)/11 inch (female) sold

wood, brown patina, camwood powder "osun", indigo blue pigment, male/female, big heads with the chin widely projecting to the front, marked by large diamond-shaped eyes with framing eyelashes and drilled pupils (metal tags missing), fine grooved high towering coiffures in two lobes, tattoos on forehead and cheeks, slightly dam. (nose and mouth of the female), abrasion of paint


Polo, Fausto, Enzyklopädie der Ibeji, 2008, ill. 407/408