Polychrome Yoruba Ceremonial Basket – Nigeria, Large Size, Mid-20th Century

Dimensions: 48 cm long, 38 cm wide, 37 cm high.
Weight: 3.9 kg

Yoruba ceremonial basket from Nigeria, large model with geometric decoration, made in the mid-20th century. The object features a dense woven structure, covered with leather panels and richly decorated with glass beads in traditional colors (blue, yellow, white, red, black), accented with carefully sewn cowrie shells.

The basket was first fashioned using tight wickerwork, then carefully sheathed in hand-sewn leather, and finally entirely adorned with glass beads applied one by one. This craft, combining wickerwork, leather, and beaded embroidery, is characteristic of Yoruba ritual workshops, reserved for ceremonial and chieftaincy objects.

Among the Yoruba, a major people of West Africa, baskets of this type are not mere containers: they belong to the realm of power and ritual. They were used to store sacred objects, chieftaincy regalia, or items related to the worship of the Orisha. The use of beads—a material associated with nobility and protection—as well as cowrie shells—an ancient symbol of wealth and fertility—reinforces the piece’s status symbol.

The presence of weathered leather panels and old stitching confirms traditional craftsmanship, predating the industrial production of materials.

An authentic piece, of a good size, decorative, and ethnographically significant.

In fine vintage condition, with a patina from use and complete decoration.