Yoruba Ibeji Twin Figure

A hand-carved wooden ibeji twin figure, most likely from Osogbo or the Igbomina region of Yorubaland, which spans Nigeria, Togo and Benin. It has large ears, a prominent nose, scarification marks, eyes and mouth rendered by negative carving, and a tall conical coiffure with incised hair coloured with deep blue indigo pigment. The figure wears beaded jewellery and has nubbin breasts and a protruding navel. Among the Yoruba, twins are understood as two people sharing one soul; when a twin dies, a figure dedicated to Ibeji, the deity of twins, is carved as an earthly abode for that twin's spirit so that the two souls remain together.