Owner: HWMC
Catalog#: AF-AELV-23-14
Provenance: Budrose Art Collection – Skinner Inc, Boston, MA
Lip Vibrated
Yoruba Oliphant (18th c)
SW Nigeria and Benin
Yoruba
Ivory and bronze
18th century or older
Length: 15 inches
Aerophone – Lip Vibrated – Horn
The Yoruba are an ethnic group of southwestern Nigeria and southern Benin in West Africa. This 18th century ivory horn has a metal bronze sleeve on the top with bronze carvings and chameleons on the bottom. The chameleons are a symbol of the messengers that live above the ground and below the ground where ancestors are buried. The ivory is extremely old and reinforced with a metal sleeve on top, but the horn still plays well.