Ifá Yoruba Divination Tray—attributed To A Workshop In The Owo Region Of Nigeria.

Rare divination tray from the Ifá religion, featuring rich decoration carved in high relief.

Yoruba—attributed to a workshop in the Owo region, Nigeria
Second half of the 19th century

Carved wood, original brown patina, beautiful and significant signs of wear. Remnants of metal inlays on some of the pupils.
Diameter: 31.5 cm – Thickness: approx. 2 cm

Rare Ifá ọ̀pọ́n divination tray featuring, along its wide rim, a remarkable frieze carved in high relief combining anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures.

Notably featured are the face of Èṣù, an essential messenger and mediator in the Ifá divination system, several birds, mudfish, and anthropomorphic-ichthyomorphic figures known as “fish-legged.”
The design is punctuated by various panels featuring engraved geometric patterns.

The richness and particularly elaborate construction of the peripheral frieze, the presence of the “fish-legged” figures and mudfish, as well as the overall organization of the decoration, allow this example to be linked to a rare corpus of divination trays

attributed to the Owo region in eastern Yorubaland.

A tray featuring a very similar iconographic vocabulary was notably attributed to the Owo region by William Fagg and sold at Christie’s. Other examples of this tradition are held at the National Museum of African Art – Smithsonian Institution in Washington, as well as at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris, which notably houses an Owo tray dating from the second half of the 19th century.

The deep brown patina and significant signs of wear visible on the surface attest to a long history of ritual use.