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Wooden board with handle, surface painted on both sides with amuletic images: off-white, green, orange, yellow, red, brown. Circle surrounded with three rows of multi-colored triangles; Arabic inscription inside circle; top and bottom are made of Diamonds made of rectangles inscribed with small circles (top) and diamonds made up of 4 triangles, each inscribed with a circle in the center.; Verso has a rectangular shape made up of rows of triangles, with a rounded top and bottom and serpentine lin…
Divination board
Courtesy of the Harn Museum of Art, Photography by Foad Seyed Mohammadi

Divination board

Maker Hausa Artist
Datelate 20th- early 21st century
Place of originNigeria, Africa
MediumWood, pigmented ink
Dimensions18 3/4 × 8 5/8 × 1/2 in. (47.6 × 21.9 × 1.3 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum puchase with funds from Caroline Julier and James G. Richardson Acquisition Fund
Object number2015.51.3
Collections
Visual DescriptionWooden board with handle, surface painted on both sides with amuletic images: off-white, green, orange, yellow, red, brown. Circle surrounded with three rows of multi-colored triangles; Arabic inscription inside circle; top and bottom are made of Diamonds made of rectangles inscribed with small circles ( top) and diamonds made up of 4 triangles, each inscribed with a circle in the center.; Verso has a rectangular shape made up of rows of triangles, with a rounded top and bottom and serpentine lines in green on either side.
Wooden board with handle, surface painted on both sides with amuletic images: off-white, green, violet, red, black. Side 1)A row of colored diagonal blocks on the top, with a central circle with Arabic inscriptions, and a scalloped pattern on the bottom. Side 2) an abstraction of a reptilian creature with a grid design on its back, inscriptions in each square, and surrounded by other marks.
Divination board
Hausa Artist
late 20th- early 21st century
Bowl with gradually rounded bottom supported by thick, conical tripod legs, firing slits in sides with rattles contained. Wall slopes inward from base to one-third of height, then straight up to rounded rim. Animal head attached to side, large pellet eyes, raised brow ridges around eyes, pointy snout, possibly turtle or reptile. Inscribed band of panels around straight section of wall. Two panels of diamond patterns, alternate diamonds cross-hatched with more diamonds, panels separated by series…
Tripod Bowl with Head
Costa Rican Artist
700-1522
Patterns of beads lie upon the open basketry of this imbeng. Two truncated triangles lie opposite each other, one in black, red, and yellow, stripes, the other white, black, green, and red, in interior triangles and stripes. The center of the basket holds a circle of larger white beads woven to strand up and away from the surface. At the two other cardinal points, two lines of pinkish beads in clusters of seven are on one side, while clusters of seven red and black beads are on the other.
Zulu Beer pot Lid
Zulu Artist
1950s
Stick with beads wound around it for decoration. Green, red, blue, orange, yellow, white glass seed beads; geometric motifs: "z" on white field; zigzags, rows of triangles and diamond pattern
Beaded staff
undated
Bowl with slightly rounded bottom curving into wall with slight outward slope and slight flare at rim. Supported by tripod legs formed to resemble animal heads with cranial bulge, protruding eyes at side, tapering to pointy upturned snout with mouth formed by firing slits on sides, rattles inside. Decoration of black bordered red boxes and triangles with jagged "teeth" pointing upward, red and black bands surrounding rim and bottom, with vertical and horizontal lines on legs outlining face circl…
Cayman headed Tripod Bowl
Nicarao Artist
1350-1550
Two circles that come together (they are one piece not two separate circles). The work includes reds, orange, purple, pink, blue, and green as well as different shapes like chevron, floral motifs, triangles, etc.
Pattern Kinship, Bubbles, ping-pong
Nevin Aladağ
2022
Small pot with spherical bottom, 2 lizard forms attached to wall with heads at rim and trails trailing down, two triangles formed of double rows of attached clay pills between lizards.
Legless Pot with iguana appliqué
Costa Rican Artist
300 BCE-300 CE
Vase shaped wood drum with incised rows of triangles on mid and lower sections. Pegs are metal nails; crisscrossed hide laced around the animal skin head.
Drum
Makonde Artist
20th century
Basket with rounded bottom and conical lid, strips of cane used for substructure and fine overlaid weaving of natural and dark brown dyed grass. The body of the basket has a dark brown pattern of a double row of 14 triangles, and the lid has a checkboard pattern in the same natural dark brown dyed coloration on the rim and the cylindrical knob top.
Lidded Basket
Tutsi Artist
20th century
Mirror inset in relief-carved wood, end of handle is carved as a circle; back and sides have rows of quatrefoil motifs; mirror is inset in conventional beveled frame, which is then inset into a hand-carved frame. Handle and outer frame are made of a lightweight wood, dark brown stain, some patina on handle.
Woman's Prestige Mirror
Igbo Artist
20th century
Abstract painting featuring a large yellow circle and grey shape above a textured white horizontal band. The foreground contains dark outlined triangles, curves, and spirals overlapping patches of yellow, orange, and black.
Moonrise
Byron Browne
1956
Koranic writing board
Koranic writing board
Hausa Artist
20th century

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