Accession Number
2005/1.245

Title
Kneeling Figure

Artist(s)
Yoruba

Artist Nationality
Yoruba (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
20th century

Medium & Support
wood

Dimensions
7 13/16 in x 2 7/16 in x 3 7/8 in (19.8 cm x 6.2 cm x 9.8 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Candis and Helmut Stern

Subject matter
By kneeling and offering the bowl in front of her with both hands, this figure depicts the Yoruba ideal of itutu, or coolness, which is part of having good character, or iwa. Kneeling or seated figures are often associated with honor or respect; generosity, another aspect of good character, is shown through the figure offering with both hands. This figure may possibly be an olumeye, meaning " one who knows honor", a figure used to offer kola nuts. Often carved in the form of a kneeling woman with a bowl, olumeye could have been used on shrines to offer kola nuts to various Yoruba orisas, or gods. It may also be a type of figure known as arugbá, altar figures that depict women kneeling, which is an act of humility and of great generosity in Yoruba culture. 

References Cited: 
Doris, David. 2004. Masterworks of African Art: Yoruba Images and Aesthetics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Art.                    
Drewal, Henry John, John Pemberton and Rowland O. Abiodun. 1989. Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought. New York: Center for African Art.
Thompson, Robert Farris. 1974. African Art in Motion: Icon and Act in the Collection of Katherine Coryton White. Los Angeles: University of California Press. 
Thompson, Robert Farris. 1983. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. New York: Random House.

Physical Description
Kneeling female figure on a rectangular base, holding a bowl decorated with a human face. The bowl is supported by a short cylinder. The figure has bracelets on each wrist and chevron-shaped marks on each arm. The hair is in a comb-like shape, decorated with vertical grooves. 

Primary Object Classification
Sculpture

Primary Object Type
figure

Collection Area
African

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
human figures (visual works)
kneeling
personal shrines