260454 - African Bronze Ife head from the Yoruba region - Nigeria.
African Bronze Ife head from the Yoruba, Nigeria.
size; 46 cm high and more then 4 kilo.
Ife, the former capital of Nigeria, gave its name to this art of terracotta sculpture. This terracotta head is in the style of Ita Yemoo, a site discovered in 1957. It undoubtedly represents a dignitary. The prosperity of Ife allowed the development of an unparalleled art that would have been born in the terracotta and later transformed into the metal.
Ife is an ancient Yoruba city in southwestern NIGERIA. The city is known as the cradle of this people and of one of the most beautiful civilizations in sub-Saharan Africa. The Yorubas or Yoroubas are a large ethnic group in Africa, mainly present in Nigeria, on the right bank of the Niger River, but also in Benin, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.
The Yoruba of West Africa (Benin, Nigeria and Togo, with migrant communities in parts of Ghana and Sierra Leone) are responsible for one of the finest artistic traditions in Africa, a tradition that remains vital and influential today.