A Rare Old Yoruba Agere Ifa Divination Bowl, Nigeria, AfricaCarved wooden bowl featuring elaborate open-work design and the image of twin Mud fish. Mudfish are both Mythical and real creatures to the yoruba, due to their ability to move among two realms, in water and on land. They are an appropriate metaphor for use in a divination bowl, which is used to summon spirits, and like the mudfish, the spirits traverse two realms, the Spirit world and the world of the living. A very rare and desirable field used divination bowl, with good age and a wonderful highly stylized form. Hand-carved from hard wood, used to store the sixteen sacred palm nuts (ikin) traditionally used as a special element in the Yoruba divination ritual. Priests have traditionally used such vessels to communicate with Orunmila, the god of fate, in hopes of attaining insights to an individual's destiny. The metaphysical attribute of a given animal motif (such as a mudfish) may be used to further empower the sacred palm nuts which are kept inside the bowl. Some àgéré Ifá are given by clients to a diviner to thank Orunmila for a blessing or to implore the deity to bestow more favors on the donor.Ex Leonard Whitehouse collection. MEASURES 5.25 INCHES TALL X 5.25 INCHES WIDE.

Fair, minor areas of decay and weathering