PAIR OF YORUBA SHRINE FIGURES By Aina Obembe Alaye, Chief Ologunde

PAIR OF YORUBA SHRINE FIGURES By Aina Obembe Alaye, Chief Ologunde
Efon Alaye, Nigeria

68 and 75 cm. high

According to William Fagg this fine pair of figures represents the Chief Priest of Ifa and his wife. They were carved by one of the two most famous masters of the great carving centre of Efon-Alaye, Aina Obembe Alaye, Chief Ologunde. Writing about a very similar female figure by Chief Ologunde, which he dated to circa 1910 or earlier (Christie?s 13 June 1978, lot 257), William Fagg wrote: Almost all Chief Ologunde?s known carvings are houseposts, such as the magnificent series in the house of the former Chief Lisa of Ondo. Ologunde?s figures are notable for a certain cheerfulness, not to say occasionally comicality, deriving from an element of caricature? Chief Ologunde?s first name, Aina, denotes that he was born with a caul (the Amnion of membrane enclosing the foetus which sometimes envelopes a child?s head at birth), in Yorubaland as in Europe regarded as a sign of good omen, but requiring special religious observances. He died, according to his son, Zaccheus Ogunleye, in 1939 at the age of 70.

Provenance

Loed and Mia van Bussel, The Hague/Amsterdam
Frans and Betty Voss, Netherlands