Diviner's bag (Apo Ifa)

Label TextComplex beaded bags are worn by a Yoruba diviner known as "father of the secret." He kept implements in it for use in consultations with Orunmila, the god of wisdom. Dense multicolored patterning is a visual signal of the presence of a man who is capable of reciting from a vast library of oral poetry known as Odu Ifa.

Object number81.17.639

Exhibition HistoryBellevue, Washington, Bellevue Art Museum, The Ubiquitous Bead, Sept. 5 - Oct. 25, 1987. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, African Panoplies: Art for Rulers, Traders, Hunters, and Priests, Apr. 21 - Aug. 14, 1988. New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Art Gallery, Bámigbóyè: A Master Sculptor of the Yorùbá Tradition, Sept. 9, 2022 - Jan. 8, 2023. No cat. no., p. 46, reproduced fig. 18.

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions8 9/16 x 1 3/8 in. (21.7 x 3.5 cm) L.: 11 1/16 in.

MediumCloth, string, glass beads