The Yoruba god Eshu is a so-called ‘trickster god’. He may do good as well as evil, so one must keep on the right side of Eshu. These figures are therefore placed in shrines (or also on domestic altars) for the god Eshu. The worshippers then place their sacrificial offerings in the bowls of these ‘bowl bearers’. Depictions of the god Eshu (and all figures that are associated with him) are easily recognised by the long braid that hangs down from the back of his head.
Hence the present shrine figure, a bowl bearer with a long braid behind, is clearly destined for a shrine for god Eshu. It is carved in lightweight, light-coloured wood and dyed blue and black (with soot and ‘bluing’). It displays a beautifully crafted plaited hairstyle with a narrow centre crest and a typical Eshu braid at the back. The pupils in her large Yoruba eyes are made from inserted metal nails. The figure wears a necklace made from small, red, glass beads and a leather ring, onto which two strings of cowrie shells are attached with leather straps. She has wave-shaped decorative scarification marks on both breasts and bangles above both hands, in which she is holding her sacrificial bowl.
This is a small, but stylistically accomplished ‘bowl bearer’. It has some early, old insect damage on the plinth and bowl, above the Eshu braid, on the right arm and on the left side, as well as two age related cracks on the back. This rare object displays a good, old and in parts shiny patina. Height: 33 cm. First third of the 20th century. (ME)

Provenance:
Kegel-Konietzko Collection, Hamburg; currently: German private collection.

Lit.:
'Yoruba. Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought' by H. J. Drewal & J. Pemberton III., ill. 168; 'Yoruba. Sculpture of West Africa' by William Fagg & John Pemberton III., fig. 44, ill. 18.