Tapper (Iroke Ifa)

Mid–20th century

Yòrùbá
Ketu region, Nigeria
Coastal West Africa

A Yoruba diviner strikes a tapper against his tray to call the deity of fate, Orunmila, to the proceedings. This wooden tapper features an unusual upside-down design: a kneeling woman carrying a basket on top of her head and a baby strapped on her back.

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.: 1925–1975
Medium: Wood, glass beads, and thread
Dimensions: H.: 42.6 cm (16 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Richard Faletti, the Faletti Family Collection
Reference Number: 2000.317

Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection (Phoenix: Phoenix Art Museum, 1997), pg. 83, cat. 30 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 37, pp. 102-103 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis, ed., The Language of Beauty in African Art, ex. cat. (Yale University Press, 2022), cat. no. 91, p. 146 (ill.).

Phoenix Art Museum, A Sense of Wonder: African Art from the Faletti Family Collection, Dec. 13, 1997-Feb. 8, 1998, cat. 30; 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.
Art Institute of Chicago, African Artistry: Gifts from the Faletti Family Collection, Oct. 5–May 18, 2003, Gallery 142, no. cat.
Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth, Texas, “The Language of Beauty in African Art”, April 3-July 31, 2022; Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 20, 2022 - Feb. 27, 2023, cat. no. 91.

William Wright Gallery, New York, N.Y., by 1985 [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) and Barbara Faletti (died 2000), Chicago, Ill. and Phoenix, Ariz., Feb. 19, 1985 [invoice from William Wright Gallery dated Feb. 18, 1985 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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