Duende Art Projects

Technique: Anonymous Yoruba artist Nigeria, Early 20th century Beads, fibers, cloth. 22 cm Provenance Galerie Maria Wyss, Basel, Switzerland Peter E. His Collection, Basel, Switzerland By descent through family, 2022 Hammer Auktionen, Basel, 28 September 2022, lot 55. Duende Art Projects, Antwerp, Belgium, 2022

Authenticity: Certificate provided

Edition: Unique work

Yoruba Crown Element

This enigmatic anthropomorphic beaded element likely was the upper part of a Bayanni crown, a special type of Yoruba crown which was always topped by a stylized female head equipped with the typical high crest of an agogo hairdo. This type of crowns waw a principal symbol for the Yoruba deity Bayanni, the elder sister of Shango, divinity of thunder and lightning. A gentle, loving person who relinquished the throne to her younger, more aggressive brother Shango, Bayanni accepted a crown of cowries instead of the traditional beaded crown. During ceremonies, Bayanni devotees wear these objects as crowns, which would otherwise been kept in Shango shrines where they were hung on terracotta vessels. The agogo coiffure worn by the present head was also called the bride’s hairstyle, with braids of hair radiating up from the hairline and culminating in a central longitudinal crest. Shango priests customarily wore such female hairstyles, for they were said to become the wives of the god when performing their ritual functions. The four bands of beads that come together at the head, as well as their decoration, might reference the numerology of Yoruba divination verses. Among the Yoruba, beads were signs of wealth and status. Professional bead-workers embellished many sacred and secular objects with symbolic designs created by the small, imported glass beads. Its facial features reduced to projecting circular eyes give this head a hypnotic gaze, while the body taking the shape of four flaps somehow remind of an octopus’ tentacles.