divination bag, beaded; 2 square cloth bags with cover flap, lined with burlap, beaded on cover exterior with interwoven linear design in red, gold and blue/white seed beads; suspended on pair of shoulder straps made of cloth covered tubular wood black, decorated with multicolored seed beads in geometric patterns; L overall ca 62.0 cm x W (bags) ca 17.0 cm.
Donor:
Berta Bascom
Collection place:
Nigeria
Verbatim coll. place:
Africa; Nigeria; Yoruba
Culture or time period:
Yoruba
Collector:
Berta Bascom and William Russell Bascom
Collection date:
early 1950s
Materials:
Wood (plant material)
Object type:
ethnography
Function:
5.1 Religion and Divination: Objects and garb associated with practices reflecting submission, devotion, obedience, and service to supernatural agencies
Context of use:
divination bag belonging to 'bablawo' (diviner). used to carry divining chain, and peraphernalia such as shells, vertebrae, horns and teeth. per donor, beads signify that the 'babalawo' is a priest of the King, Ifa.
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Dimensions:
width 17 centimeters and length 62 centimeters
Comment:
NOTE: Two Bascom objects have 1985 annotated as the Bascom inventory number. Object #1985.1 is the object which was turned over to the Hearst Museum on 4/8/00. PAHMA Storage Loc: 20A, W-12-9