230602 - Antique Terracotta Sokoto double head on wooden stand - Nigeria
€425.00
Antique Terracotta Sokoto double head on wooden stand - Nigeria.
This Sokoto head was collected in my private collection in 1997.
This superb and highly characteristic head measures 20 cm in height and with the wooden stand 29 cm.
The art of Sokoto was born in the middle valley of the Niger, and reveals a refined and highly evolved civilization.
This civilization is contemporary with the civilization of Nok. The geographical areas overlapand the exchanges between the two peoples were to be important.
Among the pieces listed during the excavations, are mainly preserved isolated heads, mostly male,originally belonging to statues of figures standing in a frontal attitude.
Sokoto heads generally adopt the same characteristic construction: globular skull, high forehead cleared, pupil pierced and underlined by a semicircle, flat, triangular face.
A few examples are distinguished by the formal treatment accorded to the face.
Literature.: Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler, Erde und Erz, 2500 Jahre Afrikanische Kunst aus Terrakotta und Metall, 1997
Literature: Frederick John Lamp, Ancient Terracotta Figurines from Northern Nigeria. Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, 2011.