Yorùbá
Fan for the Goddess Oshun
Yoruba, 1866-1932
Scroll
Yorùbá
Fan for the Goddess Oshun
Yoruba, 1866-1932
Physical Qualities
Copper alloy, 34.2 H x 19.7 W x 0.5 D cm.
Credit Line
Gift of Bernice Barth, Los Angeles
Object Number
2000.232
Oshun is the Yoruba goddess of love and honey and all that is sweet. She resides in healing river waters and her priestesses carry brass fans in her honor. Hand-tooled copper alloy fans such as this are adorned with river creatures like stylized lizards and watery effects like scalloped or rippling edges, and a shiny polish so that the surface might evoke the reflective beauty of flowing water. The cross within the circle design seen here indicates a place of meeting, such as the point at which the powers of the divine meet those of nature. To further visualize Oshun’s association with light reflecting off water ripplets, her priestesses will also wear bits of mirrors during festivals for the goddess.
"Meditations on African Art: Light," Dec 17, 2006 - Apr 1, 2007, BMA, Karen Milbourne.
"Art & Emancipation in Jamaica: Isaac Mendes Belisario and His Works." Booklet. Yale Center for British Arts, 2007: illus. pg. 48.
Barringer, Tim, et al. "Art and Emancipation in Jamaica: Isaac Mendes Belisario and His Worlds." New Haven and London: Yale Center for British Art in association with Yale University Press, 2007: cat. no. 188, illus. p. 485.
Inscribed: Label on back of fan has been removed by Conservation reading: ( '#675 -- EO-oo'). This label has been filed in Conservation.
