A Twin Image from Abeokuta, Nigeria

all photographs by the author

In 1964, local observers from all walks of life were shown a selection of memorial images for departed twins (ere ibeji), representing a varied range of individual “hands,” or styles, throughout Yorubaland. The most highly praised and widely admired of all the images offered for their critical appraisal was the female twin figure featured here (Figs. 1a–b).

This figure was collected by K.C. Murray, then Surveyor of Antiquities, at the Egbado town of Ajilete, southwestern Yorubaland, in 1951. It was among other items rescued after the Atinga “witch-finding” cult had swept through the Ilaro area in 1950–51 (see Morton-Williams 1956: 315–34). Specific cults were targeted, and shrines for twins were attacked with “particular zeal” (Morton-Williams 1956: 325), reflecting the close association of twin births with witches in this area. Murray (n.d.) reckoned that the cult visited at least thirty-nine, and possibly as many as forty-five, different localities. He collected 210 twin figures, including 56 pairs, but this represents only a small selection of the many hundreds, if not thousands, of twin images either earmarked for destruction or already destroyed by cult members on their rampage through the region.

On stylistic grounds, the figure is undoubtedly a product of the Eshubiyi [Esubiyi] workshop, Ita Eleshu [Elesu], Oke Itoko, Abeokuta, a singular characteristic of this style being the “massive pierced hands” (Drewal 1980: 52, Fig. 63). Shown the figure in 1964, members of the lineage claimed it, without hesitation, as the work of the workshop’s founder (ca. 1840–1910), suggesting that it had probably been carved during the second half of the nineteenth century. Eshubiyi, also known by his praise name Amutu, and members of his family had settled in Abeokuta in 1863 or thereabouts, as refugees from the nearby settlement of lbara-Oko, which lay in the path of an approaching Dahomeyan army (see Chappel 1972). A priest of Eshu [Esu]Elegba (trickster and divine messenger of the gods) as well as a carver, Eshubiyi set up his workshop in a part of the Egba metropolis separated from his fellow refugees while continuing to maintain links with the close-knit Ibara community. In 1964, Shookan [Sookan] Ogunbayo, Eshubiyi’s grandson, and other lineage members were adamant that a dance staff (Figs. 2a–b) still in use in association with his priestly duties—both occupations, priest and carver, having been inherited—had been carved by Eshubiyi himself. The care and devotion directed towards this iconic lineage possession suggested that there was no reason to doubt this assertion. As Drewal (1980) notes, there are marked stylistic convergences between this dance staff and the twin figure that he provisionally attributes to Eshubiyi. The same may be said of the twin figure under discussion.

As indicated, this figure was the most highly ranked of all the twin figures shown to respondents for their critical appraisal. It was noted, at the time, that the initial appreciative response of many of these observers was a nonverbal one: They manifested an obvious desire to pick up and handle this particular object. In many instances, they were observed caressing its smooth contours. Subsequent verbal comments most frequently remarked on the fact that the image closely “resembles a person” (o jo enia), i.e., it looked like a human being. Among the southwestern Yoruba, at least, this was a defining accolade for what was considered to be a successful piece of figurative sculpture.

Especial praise was lavished by respondents on the carver’s expert treatment, both in terms of quality (fineness of execution) and quantity (number of plaits), of the figure’s coiffure, another major criterion of carving excellence in this area. In 1964, Shookan and his son, Atanda, also a carver, reluctantly agreed that their own efforts in this regard no longer matched those of their predecessors. Fellow carver Joshua Adelakun of Mede (see Chappel 2005: 81–82, Fig. 15), who had been invited to make a copy of the figure, admitted that in spite of his acknowledged skill with the knife, the task of reproducing the finely executed plaits of...