Artwork Page for Pair of Twin Figures (Ère Ìbejì)

Details / Information for Pair of Twin Figures (Ère Ìbejì)

Pair of Twin Figures (Ère Ìbejì)

c. 1930s

Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker

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Medium
Wood, organic material, probably bluing, glass beads, and natural fiber
Measurements
Each: 27.3 cm (10 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Katherine C. White 1972.334
Copyright
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

The blue color of these figures' hair is a mix of the natural material indigo and laundry blue, a powdered substance used to brighten laundry.

Description

Yorùbá people, who have the world's highest number of multiple births, regard twins as sacred children. Should one die, the parents may commission a memorial figure. They then care for the figure (decorate, clothe, wash, and feed it), symbolically honoring and entertaining the spirit of the departed twin so it does not call its partner to join it in the otherworld. The indigo and washing blue in the hair and the red camwood cosmetic rubbed on the bodies of these figures are signs of the devotions of their former owners.

Pair of Twin Figures (Ère Ìbejì)

c. 1930s

Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker

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