Patina has many causes
Oil, smoke, pigment, handling, storage, cleaning and later treatments can all deepen or brighten wood. Some convincing surfaces develop quickly; some old figures remain dry or uneven.
Surface can seduce; age must be argued from more than colour and shine.
Read layers and edges
Observe recesses, exposed peaks, cracks, bead shadows and repaired zones. Ask whether transitions correspond to plausible use. Artificial finishes often simplify what lived surfaces make complex.
Cross-check
Combine surface with carving history, tool marks, oxidation, condition, provenance and secure comparisons. Patina contributes evidence; it cannot carry the entire date.
A wider reading
Comparison is most reliable when it is controlled. Place the figure beside securely documented examples photographed from the same angle and at a similar scale. Compare one system at a time: head and face, then torso and limbs, then base and surface. Observe recesses, exposed peaks, cracks, bead shadows and repaired zones. Similarity in one striking element may be accidental or widely shared; repeated agreement across independent areas is more significant. Contradictions should be recorded rather than explained away.
From observation to judgment
The history of an Ere Ibeji rarely follows a single clean line. Commission, ritual use, repair, inheritance, sale, collection and publication can each alter the object or the language attached to it. Oil, smoke, pigment, handling, storage, cleaning and later treatments can all deepen or brighten wood. For that reason, an apparently simple description may contain several dates and several kinds of authorship. The carver made the form, but families, ritual specialists, traders, dealers, collectors and restorers may all have shaped what is now seen.