Female Figure with Rooster (Olumeye)

Late 19th or early 20th century

Attributed to Obembe Alaiye (active late 19th/early 20th century) or Agbonbiofe (died 1945)
Yoruba
Nigeria
Coastal West Africa

The rooster-shaped container proffered by this kneeling female figure was made to hold kola nuts, which are shared with guests as a gesture of hospitality. The sculpture’s surface is rubbed with washing blue, a laundry aid used to prevent white clothes from yellowing. The color blue carries special significance for the Yoruba. Expressing coolness, it is associated with water and water deities as well as admired qualities such as purity, discretion, and composure.

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

Culture: Yoruba
Artists: Agbonbiofe , Obembe Alaiye
Title: Female Figure with Rooster (Olumeye)
Places: Nigeria (Object made in:), Africa (Object made in:)
Date: 1875-1925
Medium: Wood, pigment, glass beads, and thread
Dimensions: 40.1 × 31.1 × 22.8 cm (16 × 12 1/4 × 9 in.)
Credit Line: Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund
Reference Number: 1977.493

William Fagg and John Pemberton, Yoruba Sculpture of West Africa (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982), pp. 134-135 (ill.)
Moyo Okediji, “Art of the Yoruba,” African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Studies, vol. 23, no. 2 (1997), 164-181; 178 (ill.).
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” African Arts, vol. 32, no. 4 (Winter 1999), pp.18-35; 29 (ill.).
Babatunde Lawal, “Orilonise: The Hermeneutics of the Head and Hairstyles Among the Yoruba,” The World of Tribal Arts, vol. 7, no. 2 (Winter 2001/Spring 2002), pp. 80-99; 99 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 35, pp. 100-101 (ill.).

Galerie Monbrison, Paris, by 1977 [confirmation by Alain de Monbrison; statement by William Fagg dated Sept. 26, 1977 in curatorial file]. Pace Primitive and Ancient Art, New York, N.Y., by 1977 [invoice no. 1351 in curatorial file dated Nov. 30, 1977]; sold to the Art Institute, 1977.

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