ASAUK 2018

The aim of this paper is to make some considerations on Yoruba religious ivory objects in the Western African art collections, and in the African diaspora in America, specifically in Bahia’s candomblé, in order to reflect on the circulation of these objects of the cult of Ifá. This analysis is based on written and iconographic European sources from the 17th to the 19th centuries, ethnographic researches, as well as the representations of the ivory objects produced by African artists in other objects, such as the brass and bronze plaques in the King of Benin's palace, olifants, and (Opón Ifá) divination dishes.