A Yoruba Queen Mother Shrine Figure...

Description

A Yoruba Queen Mother Shrine Figure
Attributed to Olowe of Ise, Nigeria, (1873-1938)

Blackened hardwood with a shrine patina from libations. Trace remains of white and blue pigments. The Queen mother is seated on a four-part columnar stool, two smaller attendants are at her sides, each with a hand to her back. She wears a horizontally striped skirt, belt, and necklace. Her face has parallel linear scarification marks and her braids are swept upward into a strikingly tall coiffure. In very good condition, some desiccation of the wood at the back of her coiffure, very minor scuffs.

Note: reportedly, the attribution to the Yoruba master sculptor Olowe was made by Roslyn Walker, Nigerian art expert and former director of the National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., and current curator of African art at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Provenance:
Property from the Collection of Dr. Richard and Jan Baum, Los Angeles, CA
Fily Keita, Los Angeles, CA

Exhibited:
Tradition and Innovation in African Art, curated by Polly Nooter Roberts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, May - November, 2008.

Height: 26 ½ inches

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