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Divination Container (Opon Igede Ifa)

1880-1954

Nigeria, Yoruba, Osi-Ilorin, 1880-1954

When problems seemed insurmountable, a consultation with a diviner might clear a path to a better destiny. His implements were kept in this bowl to showcase the range of problems he dealt with often—relationships between people. Many encounters appear in the carved surface, but the most noticeable is Esu, riding a bike and smoking a pipe. The package on the back of his bike serves to remind everyone that he is the messenger to the gods.

Wood, encrustation

21 1/2 in. (54.61 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.621

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. 78-79, reproduced pls. 107, 108 (as divination bowl).

Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis Museum of Art, African Furniture and Household Objects, organized by the American Federation of Arts, New York, Apr. 9 - May 25, 1980 (Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, July 3 - Aug. 3, 1980).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Praise Poems: The Katherine White Collection, July 29 - Sept. 29, 1984 (Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 31, 1984 - Feb. 25, 1985; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Apr. 6 - May 19, 1985; Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, Sept. 7 - Nov. 25, 1985; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Mar. 8 - Apr. 20, 1986). Text by Pamela McClusky. Cat. no. 24, pp. 56-57, reproduced.

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

Gainesville, Florida, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, African Art: Permutations of Power, Oct. 13, 1997 - Feb. 1, 1998.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Documents International: Eleven Heads Are Better than One: Sixth Graders Connect with SAM, Apr. 1, 1999 - Apr. 2, 2000.

Published ReferencesKreamer, Christine Mullen. "A Tribute to Roy Sieber, Part I." African Arts, vol. 36, no. 1 (Spring 2003), pp. 12-23, 91, reproduced fig. 17.

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.

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