Yorùbá and Awori
Bowl-Bearing Figure
Yoruba, Otta village, 1889-1898
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Wood, glass beads, string, pigment, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 6 in. (29.2 x 14 x 15.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Bernice Barth, Los Angeles
Object Number
2010.65
This female figure's kneeling pose and offering gesture suggests her openhanded generosity and signifies olumeye, meaning "the one knowing honor," in the Yoruba language. Bowl-bearing figures such as this one were historically set inside homes and filled with hola nuts as an offer to guests and ancestors.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2010; Bernice Barth, Los Angeles, CA; Arthur Barth by purchase, 1961; Nielsen (art dealer), London
Hand Held: Personal Arts from Africa
African Reinstallation
African Gallery Rotations 2023
African Wing Rotations 2024
Rubin, Arnold. "Yoruba Sculputre in Los Angeles," exhibition catalogue, March 10 to April 6, 1969, Montgomery Art Center, Pomona College, Claremont, California: 32-33.
Baltimore Museum of Art. BMA Today. Winter/Spring 2011. Baltimore, MD: 13.
Baltimore Museum of Art. BMA Today. Fall 2011. Baltimore, MD: 3.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
