African Arts Gallery

In African tribal art, the artistic movement of which these sculptures are a part bears the name of the ancient religious capital of Nigeria, Ifè, one of the many city-states established by the Yoruba. This civilization succeeded the Nok civilization. This city-state of Ilé-Ifé, whose rise culminated from the 12th to the 15th century, had an artistic tradition of royal portraits imbued with realism, funerary effigies in bronze but also in terracotta. The parallel folds traced on the neck would evoke the folds of flesh of the prosperous notables, and the hollowed out parts which accompany it were to be used to fix the beaded veil of the king. The parallel lines of the face represent the traditional scarifications. The openings around the mouth likely represented a beard created by the insertion of hair or beads. The bronze heads were made using the lost-wax technique, a technique that may have been imported from Sudan or brought from the outskirts of the Mediterranean by itinerant blacksmith sculptors who used it to make knives and bells.