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Details / Information for Head

thermoluminescence date 20–620 CE
terracotta
Overall: 38.2 x 20 cm (15 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1995.21
Location: 108A Sub-Saharan
Public Domain
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This complete head’s bold modeling, deliberate asymmetry, and sensitive expression make it one of the finest known examples of Nok sculpture.

Description

More than 500 such sculptures—often full figures with elaborate hairstyles and jewelry— have been found in central Nigeria. Named after a discovery site, Nok culture (500 BCE–200 CE or 1500–1 BCE) produced the earliest large figurative artworks in Africa outside of Egypt. Little was known about their social context, as they were first found in mining deposits in the 1920s. Archaeological excavations conducted in the 2000s by a German-Nigerian team suggest that many sculptures were deliberately broken and placed under pavements and in pits, indicating ritual practice. Male-centered art histories presumed men made these figurative sculptures; however, they incorporate building and firing techniques practiced only by women.
An orange terracotta sculpture of a head with textured hair or a hat of circular indents and a long, prominent jaw. The head has large, triangular eyes with holes where the pupils and irises would be. The head narrows to a rectangular chin and, from either side of the head, triangular ears jut out.

Head

thermoluminescence date 20–620 CE

Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Nok-culture style region, unknown female ceramicist

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