Female figure (Olumeye)

Olumeye or "one who knows honor" are often filled with kola nuts that a king gives to his guest as an expression of hospitality. This woman exemplifies Yoruba ideals of beauty-her hairstyle indicates she is married to a deity and she manifests an inner beauty as she bears gifts with an enigmatic smile.

Wood, encrustations, and pigment

13 5/16 x 4 1/16 x 6 in. (33.8 x 10.3 x 15.2 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.604

Photo: Paul Macapia

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, African Panoplies: Art for Rulers, Traders, Hunters, and Priests, Apr. 21 - Aug. 14, 1988.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005; Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, Feb. 12 - June 19, 2005; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 1, 2006; Nashville, Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Jan. 27 - Apr. 30, 2006 [as African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back]). Text by Pamela McClusky. No cat. no., pp. 45-46, reproduced pl. 20.

Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. African Art: From Crocodiles to Convertibles in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1987; cat. no. 2, pp. 8-9, reproduced (as Figure with bowl).

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