In Mande society, clay has historically been a major medium of creative expression identified with female expertise. Women’s mastery of sophisticated techniques of forming and firing clay parallels that of men’s manipulation of iron ore through smithing. Given that these gendered specializations go back as far as anyone can remember, it has been proposed that female authors produced the full array of Middle Niger ritual ceramics, including figurative representations.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara," January 28–October 25, 2020.
Barbier Jean Paul. Hier, Aujourd'hui, Demain: Regards sur les Collections et sur les Activites du Musee Barbier-Mueller 1977-1987. Geneva: Musée Barbier-Mueller, 1987.
Garrard, Timothy F. African Art from the Barbier-Mueller, edited by Werner Schmalenbach. Munich: Prestel, 1988.
Garrard, Timothy F. Africa, the Art of a Continent, edited by Tom Phillips. New York: Prestel, 1995.
Tribal Sculpture, Masterpieces from Africa, South East Asia and the Pacific in the Barbier-Mueller Museum. London: Thames and Hudson, 1995.
Afrika Afrikanische Skulptur aus der Sammlung Barbier Mueller. Ulm: Ulmer Museum, 2000.
D'Alleva, Anne. Arts of African and Oceania: Highlights from the Musée Barbier-Mueller. Geneva: Musée Barbier-Mueller, 2007.
Morin, Floriane, and Boris Wastiau, eds. African Terra Cottas: A Millenary Heritage in the Barbier-Mueller Museum Collections. Geneva: Musée Barbier-Mueller, 2008.
Baeke, Viviane, Yaëlle Biro, Alain-Michel Boyer, Dr. Jeremy Coote, Michael Gunn, Ingrid Heermann, Anita Herle, Lorenz Homberger, Steven Hooper, Kirk W. Huffman, Manuel Jordán, Christian Kaufmann, Eric Kjellgren, Alisa LaGamma, Louis Perrois, Deborah Waite, and Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller. A Legacy of Collecting: African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Geneva: Musée Barbier-Mueller, 2009.
The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
