Featured Help with Tribal Beaded Sash

Measures about 4 feet long and 6 inches wide. There are small shells hanging off the side. Northwest Coast area? Old? New? Trash or treasure?
THANKS in advance!

 

I luv these Yoruba African beaded panels.... or diviner sash.....


I can't speak to age.......but I'm thinking there's a few decades there..

 

Most awesome, Komokwa! THANKS!

 

Id have bought it ! Usually not my thing but that is so pretty.

 

ya, if I saw this , I wouldn't let it go either !!!

 

Cool item. Is it going to be on auction? (Looks like ‘auction’ table) If so what is the estimate?

 

yeah this Friday. Estimate $100-200

 

The Yoruba of Nigeria are well known for their elaborate beadwork. Beaded panels such as this one are derived from traditional forms.

It is often difficult to find accurate information about African arts made for sale, but it seems that within the last forty years beaded panels have been appearing for sale as decorative wall hangings. An in-depth study of Yoruba beadwork by William Fagg, a noted scholar of African art, and published in 1980, does not illustrate or mention this trend. While there is the possibility that older sashes made for use have been modified as wall hangings, it also seems likely that others have been made directly for sale, perhaps using older fabrics to simulate age. The more careful sellers will note that they are made "in the style of" Yoruba diviners' sashes.

Traditional uses include beaded sashes worn in pairs by priests of Ifa (a belief system based on divination), some are used as straps for drums or beaded bags, and similar panels are made for the sheaths used to hold an iron staff/sword which is the symbol for Oko, one of the major spirits/divinities (Orisha) of Ifa. The older sashes, straps and sheaths tend to have more elaborate designs, using more colors, geometric designs, and faces and figures that have symbolic meaning.


William Fagg: Yoruba Beadwork - Art of Nigeria. Pace Editions, 1980.

Here are some examples of decorative sashes recently on the market:
https://www.hamillgallery.com/YORUBA/YorubaSashes/YorubaSashesUpdated.html
As the gallery owner notes -
"Brightly inventive and meticulously constructed, these modern sashes are based upon sashes that functioned as symbols of the owner's spiritual position and were worn in public ceremonies by Ifa priestesses. Although they have no spiritual use, these pieces are produced by hand in Nigeria by the Yoruba people."

And some examples of Oko staff sheaths -
https://www.hamillgallery.com/YORUBA/YorubaSheaths/Sheaths0102.html

https://fowler.ucla.edu/product/x86-4848b-staff-sheath/

 

Ok. Thanks

 

Great info. Very interesting. Thanks

 

Thanks for all the info