Bracelet

Yoruba artist · 16th century

The artist's technical virtuosity is evident in this extraordinary armlet carved from one piece of ivory. The motifs on the outer interlocking piece include kneeling hunchbacks holding tethered creatures. Hunchbacks are regarded as touched by the god Obatala who shapes the human form in the womb. White is the symbolic color of Obatala and may tie in with the use of ivory for this bracelet. The theme of ritual offerings is suggested by the disembodied heads within the interlocking circles of crocodiles biting the heads and tails of mudfish and by the tethered creatures. These creatures have been described as monkeys however they resemble Ofoe, the messenger of the god of death in the Benin Kingdom, who has no body only a head and arms and legs.