YORUBA HEADS ARCHIVES, Nigeria

The Yoruba heads below have been sold and are left here for educational purposes.

For UNSOLD Yoruba heads GO TO YORUBA HEADS PAGE

YORUBA Head 9 12" high SOLD

YORUBA Head 16 6.5" high x 8" wide SOLD

YORUBA Head 7 15.5" high SOLD

YORUBA Head 2 13" high SOLD

YORUBA STYLE Head 3 13" high SOLD*

YORUBA Head 1 18" high SOLD

YORUBA STYLE Head 5 15" high SOLD

YORUBA STYLE Head 8 17.5" high SOLD

YORUBA STYLE Head 10 13" high SOLD

YORUBA STYLE Head 11 11" high SOLD

YORUBA STYLE Head 12 15.5" high SOLD

YORUBA STYLE Head 14 11"  high SOLD

YORUBA Head 4 23.5" high SOLD

YORUBA Head 6 16.5" high SOLD

YORUBA Head 13 12" high SOLD

YORUBA Head 15 27.5" high SOLD

The Yoruba heads on this page show no evidence of age or use and were probably made to be sold. Most have the form of Egungun headdresses.

The word Egungun refers to masking associated with honored male lineage ancestors. While each mask has a personal name, it does not usually refer to a specific ancestor. Rather, Egungun masks embody the "collective force of the ancestors. All of the Egungun in a community appear annually during a joyful festival that celebrates the distinguished dead. During the festival, the ancestors bless the living, promote physical and spiritual health, settle disputes, enforce tradition and morality, and cleanse the community of witchcraft.

--from African Shapes of the Sacred: Yoruba Religious Art by Carol Ann Lorenz, Senior Curator, Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University.