NAVIGATION

Fon figures are often carved by the Yoruba or by Yoruba-trained artists and their influence is found throughout Fon art. The various wars between the Fon and the Yoruba peoples helped such influences to take root through the arrival and maintenance of Yoruba artists and diviners in the Fon kingdom of Abomey where they played a significant role at the Royal court. This fine carving of a mother and child displays an obvious similarity to the traditional Ifa offering and divination bowls of the Yoruba.
Ifa is a complex system of divination and worship that originated in Ife in Nigeria and both the Fon and the Yoruba consider this city as their religious capital.