Intricately carved divination bowl of "apoti ifa" type with hinged lid.

Although made for sale to Europeans as a tourist piece, this is an elaborate example of Yoruba carving. The carver, George Bandele Areogun, was the son of acclaimed carver Dada Areogun. Though initially not as prolific a carver as his father had been his work with Father Kevin Carroll at the Oye (Ekiti) Centre established his reputation as a master carver. This piece was collected in 1952 by John Danford.

Notes:  John Danford spent the majority of his professional life working for the British Council in West Africa. He spent 11 years as the representative in Ibadan, Nigeria, his arts education providing him with the insight to encourage and develop the arts in Nigeria. For his achievements in this area he was awarded an OBE in 1953. He occupied three further posts in Trinidad, Manchester and Sierra Leone before illness forced him into retirement. In 1964 a large portion of his West African arts collection was loaned to the University of Birmingham before being purchased in 1975, forming the nucleus of the Danford Collection of West African Art and Artefacts.

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