Gelede Head from the Yoruba people. Nigeria, 20th century

Gelede head from the Yoruba people. Nigeria, 20th century.
Carved and polychrome wood.
Measurements: 39 x 20 x 23 cm.

A head carved from wood, featuring a stylized central face carved in relief and a bird carved in the round as a finial, holding a thick ribbon in its beak.
The Yoruba are an ethno-linguistic group that makes up approximately 30% of Nigeria’s population, though there are also communities in Benin and Togo, and even in the Americas—in Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, North Carolina, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Mexico, Venezuela, and Panama. They have a religious system that has spread throughout the Yoruba diaspora, known as the Osha-Ifa Tradition, which includes numerous myths, songs, stories, and other cultural concepts. Yoruba deities are called Orishas, literally “masters of the head,” with Shango—the god of thunder and ancestor of the Yoruba people themselves—perhaps being the best known.