In the presence of a diviner, a tray becomes a window of spiritual insights and practical solutions. Anxious clients can see the face of Esu, the divine and troublesome mediator, at the top. Wood dust is spread on the central circle, where the diviner will mark signs of the divine messages he is called upon to recite.
Wood
1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm)
Diam.: 16 in.
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.623
Now on view at the
Seattle Art Museum
Resources
Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., pp. 154, 156, reproduced pl. 194 (as "ifa" tray).
Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.
