Female figure

Yoruba artist · Mid 19th century

The earliest extant examples of ivory carving from Nigeria, designated "Afro-Portuguese," were produced between the 15th and 17th centuries. Current research suggests that Owo, a Yoruba kingdom situated between the Edo kingdom at Benin City and the Yoruba capital at Ile-Ife, may have been the center of Yoruba ivory carving. Owo artists, primarily employed by their Olowo (king) but free to have other patrons, may have exported ivory carvings to other Yoruba towns, such as Oyo, and to Europe, and they may have worked as itinerant artists in such towns as Benin, where they tailored their designs to local taste.