Description:
geometric patterns, white and green figural motifs on opposing sides
Label Text:
The extraordinarily beautiful beaded cap and diviner's necklace (see 2004.251) created from tiny seed beads, came from the hand of a master beadworker. Perhaps the most striking feature of the hat is the depiction of two stick figures on opposite sides, one designed with white beads and the other with green beads. They are strikingly similar to figures carved on Osugbo ritual drums and king's ivory braceletes in the area of Owo. It depicts a fugure grasping its long legs that rise parallel to its body. the figure may represent Esu, a friend of Ifa and the guardian of the ritual way, whose face always appears on a diviner's tray (opon Ifa). It could be concluded, therefore, that the hat and necklace belonged to a high-ranking Ifa priest who divined for an oba and for members of the Osugbo Society of elders in the area of Owo or Ijebu. - John Pemberton III
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2003.98 |
