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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