Skip to main content
Bowl-Bearing Figure - Image 1
Bowl-Bearing Figure - Image 2
Bowl-Bearing Figure - Image 3
Public Domain

Yorùbá and Awori

Bowl-Bearing Figure

Yoruba, Otta village, 1889-1898

Thumbnail 1
Thumbnail 2
Thumbnail 3
Scroll

Bowl-Bearing Figure

Yoruba, Otta village, 1889-1898

Physical Qualities Wood, glass beads, string, pigment, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 6 in. (29.2 x 14 x 15.2 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of Bernice Barth, Los Angeles
Object Number 2010.65
This female figure's kneeling pose and offering gesture suggests her openhanded generosity and signifies olumeye, meaning "the one knowing honor," in the Yoruba language. Bowl-bearing figures such as this one were historically set inside homes and filled with hola nuts as an offer to guests and ancestors.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2010; Bernice Barth, Los Angeles, CA; Arthur Barth by purchase, 1961; Nielsen (art dealer), London
Montgomery Art Center, Pomona College, Claremont, California, "Yoruba Sculpture in Los Angeles," Mar 10- Apr 6, 1969.

Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California, "Tradition and Change in Yoruba Art," Mar. 9 - Apr. 14, 1974.

Nichole Bridges, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Hand Held: Personal Arts from Africa," Sept. 25, 2011-Feb. 5, 2012.

Kathryn Gunsch, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Wurtzburger Galleries, "African Reinstallation," April 2015., Wurtzburger Galleries, BMA, .
Rubin, Arnold. "Yoruba Sculputre in Los Angeles," exhibition catalogue, March 10 to April 6, 1969, Montgomery Art Center, Pomona College, Claremont, California: 32-33.
Baltimore Museum of Art. BMA Today. Winter/Spring 2011. Baltimore, MD: 13.
Baltimore Museum of Art. BMA Today. Fall 2011. Baltimore, MD: 3.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.

Culture

Yorùbá

2000–2000

Meet Yorùbá

Culture Group

Awori

2000–2000

Meet Awori

Explore the Collection Further

Yorùbá, Agbonbiofe, and others
Bowl-Bearing Figure
1900–1932
Jingdezhen kilns
Deep Bowl Decorated with Figures Associated with a Constellation and Two Stars
1679–1699
Longquan kilns
Bowl with Molded Decoration of Figures and Inscriptions
1399–1432