Bowl for Ifá divination implements (ọpọ́n ìgèdè Ifá)

Works of art are often deemed complete when they leave the artist's hand. In African art, however, artists frequently sculpted or took the first steps toward defining a work's underlying form, and then a range of owners or ritual specialists assumed responsibility for the life and appearance of the object, adding to or subtracting from its surface. Over many years in an expert's service or under a community's protection, a work of art would evolve through use and wear, ritual sacrifices, or the addition of materials of empowerment.

Other works of art... were the tools of ritual experts who applied organic substances and other materials to activate the objects for power or healing. [...] The sizeable Yoruba bowl used for ritual divination was sculpted by the Nigerian artist Areogun of Osi-Ilorin, with images of an Ifa priest, animals used in sacrifice, and the trickster god Eshu carved in the artist's signature style of low relief. The bowl's thick, dark surface is the result of its long history of ritual use, its sacrificial patina now almost concealing some of the work's decorative incisions.