Lot 197: A superb Yoruba ritual mortar by Olwowe of Ise

Yoruba, Nigeria; H: 13 1/4"

The inverted ritual mortar with classical and powerful face specific to this most famous of carvers. Exceptional variegated brown patina.

Comments:
This ritual mortar (�ritual� in that it is carved inverted, and the interior was never actually used as a mortar) has been attributed to the master Olowe of Ise, by Dr. Roslyn Adele Walker. Walker explains, �Among the Yoruba, plain wooden mortars (odo) are used for pounding foodstuffs or cooked yams. Decorated ones are used in religious rituals, usually in an inverted position as a seat, table or shrine cover. Odo Sango are used in the worship of Shango, the thunder god, and, especially among the northern Ekiti-Yoruba, orun oba protect a chief�s memorial to his ancestors (cf. National Museum of African Art 98:132-133).

Provenance:
- Josef Muller, Soluthern
- Zollman Collection, IND
- Gelbard collection, NY

Publication History:
Remnants of Ritual: Selections from the Gelbard collection of African Art (2003) Bourgeois & Rodolitz; Pg. 20, Fig. 46

Olowe of Ise: A Yoruba sculptor to Kings (1998) Walker, R. Pgs. 132-133, Fig 45.

Exhibition History:
Exhibition History: USA: "Remnants of Ritual, Selections from the Gelbard Collection of African Art":
- University Park, IL: Governors State University, February 2003
- Krannert, IL: Krannert Art Museum, 26 August-26 October, 2003
- Kansas City, MO: Belger Art Foundation/UNIVERSITY of Missouri-
Kansas City, 2004
- Park Forest, IL: Tall Grass Art Association, 2005

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