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African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A Legacy of Collecting
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Female Head
Nigeria; Ife, 12th–14th century
Terracotta; H. 9 7/8 in. (25 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, New York, 1980s; [Alain de Monbrison, Paris, 2000]; Barbier-Mueller collection, since 2005
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Refined, highly naturalistic sculptural representations in fired clay were produced by artists in southwestern Nigeria between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries. Such works are identified with the civilization that developed around the ancient Yoruba city-state of Ife. The medium used to give shape to such forms resonates with Yoruba accounts of genesis in which the divine creator gave shape to humanity from modeled clay. Despite their idealization, the sensitive modeling of the visages in the extant corpus suggests that their authors sought to capture the likenesses of many different individuals. This example is additionally distinguished by a complex ornament suspended by two cords next to the right ear, which may indicate its subject's especially high rank and status.
See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about Ife Terracottas.
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