Tapper (Iroke Ifa)

Arts of Africa

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: Currently Off View
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: 43.2 × 5.1 × 7.7 cm (17 × 2 × 3 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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