Tapper (Iroke Ifa)

CC0 Public Domain Designation

17th or 18th century

Yoruba
Owo region, Nigeria
Coastal West Africa

A Yoruba diviner strikes a tapper against his tray to call the deity of fate, Orunmila, to the proceedings. The middle section of this ivory tapper depicts a kneeling hunter who clutches a bow and arrow in his right hand and a large crocodile in his left.

Status: On View, Gallery 137
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Yoruba
Title: Tapper (Iroke Ifa)
Place: Nigeria (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1601–1800
Medium: Ivory
Dimensions: H.: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Richard Faletti, the Faletti Family Collection
Reference Number: 2000.316
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/155958/manifest.json

Henry Drewal, John Pemberton III, and Roland Abiodun. Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought (Center for African Art, New York, 1989), pp. 109-111, fig. 112.
Cory Micots, “Warrior Chiefs and Composite Animals: An Ivory Bracelet Attributed to Owo, Nigeria,” Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. 68 (1994), no. 3, p. 21, fig. 7.
Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection (Phoenix: Phoenix Art Museum, 1997), pp. 9, 82; fig. 2, cat. 29 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 36, pp. 102-103 (ill.).

New York, N.Y., Center for African Art, Sets, Series, and Ensembles in African Art, July 15-Oct., 1985, no cat.
Phoenix Art Museum, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection, Dec. 13, 1997–Feb. 8, 1998, cat. 29; traveled to Chicago, The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, May 14–June 28, 1998, Urbana-Champaign, Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sept. 18 – Nov. 1, 1998; New York, N.Y., The Museum for African Art, Jan. 29-Mar. 28, 1999, Davenport Museum of Art, April 18–June 13, 1999, New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Sept. 12-Nov. 24, 1999, and The Boise Art Museum, Feb. 26–May 7, 2000.
New York, N.Y., The Center for African Art, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought, Sept. 21, 1989-Jan. 7, 1990. cat 112; traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 10-Apr. 1, 1990, Washington, D.C., The National Museum of African Art, May 8-Aug. 26, 1990, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Sept. 26-Dec. 9, 1990, The New Orleans Museum of Art, Jan. 11-March 24, 1991, Atlanta, Ga., The High Museum of Art, April 23-June 16, 1991, and The Phoenix Art Museum, Sep. 4-Oct. 6, 1991.
Art Institute of Chicago, African Artistry: Gifts from the Faletti Family Collection, Oct. 5–May 18, 2003, Gallery 142, no. cat.

William Wright, William Wright Gallery, New York, N.Y., by 1984 [this and the following according to object inventory card of R. Faletti, copy in curatorial file; personal communication from R. Faletti dated July 26, 2000]; sold to Richard J. Faletti (died 2006), Faletti Family Collection, Phoenix, Az., June 3, 1984 [invoice from William Wright Gallery dated June 3, 1984 in curatorial file]; given to the Art Institute, 2000.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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