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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;2manybooks, post: 2932163, member: 8267&quot;]I believe your piece is Yoruba (West Africa - Nigeria, Benin, Togo and part of Ghana), based on traditional shrines to Shango, the god of thunder.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]286920[/ATTACH]</p><p>&quot;Shrines dedicated to Shango, the Yoruba god of thunder, are furnished with mortars turned upside down to support large lidded calabash bowls. Shango priests store the deity&#039;s thunderbolts (Neolithic celts or axe heads), kola nuts, food offerings, <i>oshe</i> Shango (dance wands used to honor the deity), and other ritual paraphernalia in the bowls, which are placed on an upturned mortar.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>In the Igbomina and Ekiti areas, Shango shrines are adorned with large sculpted <i>arugba</i>, or bowl carriers, like this <i>arugba</i> Shango</b>, carved by Akobi Ogun Fakeye (c.1870-1946), that depicts a seated female holding a lidded bowl above her head. The central figure in a caryatid vessel is always female, depicted either kneeling or seated on a mortar, holding a large lidded bowl above her head with both hands. She represents a successful petitioner whom Shango blessed with children, one of which holds a bowl while the other one carries an <i>oshe</i> Shango in one hand and a dried stockfish in the other. The bowl itself is thought to be a metaphor for the womb, which Shango can fill with a new life if the devotee is faithful to him. The front and lid of the bowl are embossed with faces painted dark blue in reference to one&#039;s <i>ori inu</i> (inner head or personal destiny). Devotees touch the heads with their own foreheads while making an offering to Shango.&quot;</p><p><a href="https://collections.dma.org/artwork/4363444" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://collections.dma.org/artwork/4363444" rel="nofollow">https://collections.dma.org/artwork/4363444</a></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://deliver.odai.yale.edu/content/id/1463bbb4-2350-4c0c-9621-49388d5e1e37/format/2" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><a href="https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/84465" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/84465" rel="nofollow">https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/84465</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The male figure on top is presumably Shango, holding a thunderbolt. I don&#039;t know if your example was actually used, or made for sale. Often such dramatic, oversize carvings are designed for tourists. And the carving of the faces of the man and woman are not quite in traditional Yoruba style. In most Arugba Shango, the female figure uses both arms to hold the bowl on her head, which is part of the symbolism, rather than having it just sit there. But a child, or children, is usually included as in your piece - gifts of Shango.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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