Female Figure

7th–11th century

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

This terracotta figurine was recovered from a site now tentatively identified as Kumbi Saleh, the capital of ancient Ghana. Created during a prosperous period, it was fashioned from humble clay into a highly evocative bodily form that likely pays tribute to a woman’s reproductive power. While nothing is known of the figure’s original patronage or use, its find-spot in a layer of rubble and its fragmentary state suggest that it was discarded by the later generation of an urban center in transition.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: Female Figure
Date: 7th–11th century
Geography: Mauritania, Kumbi Saleh
Culture: Ghana empire
Medium: Terracotta
Dimensions: H. 4 1/8 × W. (approx.) 1 1/2 × D. (approx.) 1 1/2 in. (10.5 × 3.8 × 3.8 cm)
Classification: Ceramics-Sculpture
Credit Line: Office National des Musées de Mauritanie, Nouakchott, Mauritania (KS72 KI94)
Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing