Cleveland Museum of Art

Twin Figure (Ère Ìbejì)

Date

late 1800s–early 1900s

Medium

Wood, copper alloy, iron alloy, lead, glass beads, cowrie shells, twine, and pigment

Culture

Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Such a figure is carved when a twin dies in infancy and serves as a memorial to the surviving sibling. These twin figures are always carved to look like adult individuals with idealized physical features. Various body adornments suggest the care parents devote to their children, while the erosion of facial features indicates the symbolic washing and feeding of the figure as a means to connect the soul of the deceased to that of the living twin. This figure commemorates a twin that has died in infancy.

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