Dance panel

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The panels (yata) are carried crosswise on a sling over the shoulders, so that the panel rests on the opposite hip.‖ Dance panels set with beads are better known in the West than specimens which, like this one, are decorated with copper strips with repoussé decoration and mirrors on a background of cloth. R.F. Thompson was one of the first to draw attention to the existence of these dance panels (yata), and he published a photograph of a boy from Efon Alaiye wearing bead-decorated ones made by the bead-makers of the Adeshina family of that place. Pemberton photographed Oshun priestesses from Ila Orangun wearing such yata as they carried pots of medicinal water on their heads during a ceremony for Oshun (in: Drewal et al., 1989: fig. 183). The same author also published some seven specimens with beads which, on the basis of the colours used, he attributes to the cult of Oshun, of Ifa, of the 'Orisha funfun' (the white gods, of which Obatala, Odudua, Oshun and Osanyin are the most important) and of Shango (Fagg and Pemberton, 1980: pls. 6, 12, 15, 16, 22, 25 and 27). Yata are additionally depicted in miniature with the bead-decorated Ile Ore and with pots that may be related to Shopona (Witte, 1994: pls. 9, 13, 19 and 21).Yata without beads are less well known in the West, probably because they do not attract collectors. This specimen was probably worn (along with collection number 390-1) by Shango priests; indications of this are the red color and the triangular flaps at the bottom, which extend into fringe.‖ DescriptionBandier of fabric, to which is attached a square panel of fabric on a wooden frame. The whole is decorated with cowrie shells. The cowrie shells are divided into four planes by two diagonal copper strips with repoussé decoration. Where the two copper strips cross there is a copper cone surrounded by what were probably four balls of textile and of which only one remains. In the corners there were probably mirrors.