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. 

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