Ornament: Head with Raised Arms
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Given their command of the specialized, esoteric technology for transforming raw ore into essential tools, metalsmiths have occupied a unique place in Mande society. Archaeological investigation shows that sectors of Jenne-jeno were inhabited by blacksmiths as early as A.D. 400. Outside the residential compound of a smith, archaeologists unearthed what appears to have been a shrine with tenth-century offerings of a fired-clay vessel, adorned with serpent, human, and animal imagery, and scraps of iron dispersed among a heap of sandstone slabs. The masterful manipulation of both iron and imported copper is exemplified in the exquisite detail of this amuletic talisman produced through multiple castings.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ornament: Head with Raised Arms
- Date: 9th–14th century
- Geography: Mali, Inner Niger Delta
- Culture: Middle Niger civilization
- Medium: Copper, brass
- Dimensions: H. 4 1/2 × W. 3 11/16 × L. 13/16 in. (11.4 × 9.4 × 2 cm)
- Classification: Metal-Ornaments
- Credit Line: Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva (1004-85)
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing