Ifá diviner's necklace (òdìgbà Ifá)

1900s

Ifá diviner's necklace (òdìgbà Ifá), 1900s. Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker. Cloth, glass beads, cardboard, cotton, probably wool, and wood; overall: 49.5 cm (19 1/2 in.); bag: 21.5 x 19.6 cm (8 7/16 x 7 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1995.23 Look closely at the minuscule beads used to make the complex patterns of this multicolored necklace containing two pouches with thin strands that are connected by rope-like cords. A Yoruba diviner would have communicated with the spirit world while wearing this accessory.