Professional Documents
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A SHORT HISTORY OF
AFRICAN ART
YV
0-61^0-0131-1
ISBN
>$E1-15
WERNER GILLON
A SHORT HISTORY OF
AFRICAN ART
It is
last
begun
to
and oral
history.
is
the
first
major attempt
to
It
but also
incl udes
textiles, pottery
and
art
the earliest
rock
art
artifacts
known
found
in a
art
the sophisticated
Nok
cultures.
arts in a
in the
west
Illustrated
detailed maps,
research, will
make an
many
years of
art.
PKf
BOSTON
PUBLIC
LIBRARY^
A SHORT HISTORY OF
AFRICAN ART
WERNER GILLON
A SHORT HISTORY OF
AFRICAN ART
g
New
Facts
On
York,
New
File Publications
York Bicester, England
BRIGHTON
No
be reproduced or utilized
in
may
United Kingdom by
987654321
To Sally
Contents
List of Maps
Preface by
Roy
Sieber
Acknowledgements
1.
Introduction:
15
An Approach
to the
19
19
25
28
2.
36
3.
55
4.
75
5.
87
6.
7.
Kanem-Borno and
8.
130
9.
137
10.
29
Kissi
113
121
137
139
146
164
171
1 1
The Art of I fe
Owo, the 'Tsoede' and 'Lower Niger' Bronzes
The Art of Dahomey
The Esie Stone Images and Nupe Art
Yoruba Art
in the
183
184
207
222
229
234
12.
Benin
13.
271
271
Eastern Africa
3"
311
334
Epilogue
347
List of Illustrations
349
Abbreviations
355
Notes
356
Bibliography
375
Index
395
14.
16.
248
286
290
299
320
330
List of Maps
Collection of Voyages
2,
1745.
of Africa, 1983.
2.
Political
3.
Main
4.
Areas of rock
5.
The
6.
The empires
7.
8.
The
9.
The Upper
Ancient Ghana.
11.
The
138
185
their neighbours.
southern savanna.
12. ^Ethiopia,
91
121
33
56
10.
18
37
Nile Valley.
Volta,
10
207
272
312
13.
Eastern Africa.
321
14.
Southern Africa.
335
Map
from Churchill,
Collection of Voyages
2,
1745.
Preface
by avant-garde
'discovered'
is
artists
and
critics,
The various
studies
art negre -
had been
I'
is
steeped in a climate of
in spite
of appearances, we
all characterized
details.
As
with
everything else concerning the country, our documentation about the manifestations
of art
shallow that
is
it
would seem
it.
The
number of
articles
Griaule's comments.
listed in the
Much
decades has sprung either from an admiration for the arts and particularly
the sculpture of Africa or from a scholarly concern with the arts as they
been expressed
in the
first
its
beginning
in
what might
in the thirties
and has flourished since the Second World War. At the same time some
courageous
art
limited because
it fails
to address often
tribal style. It
complex problems of
is
historical
among
it
offers
Preface
we do not equate
it
styles;
World
ignore historical aspects of the arts and the cultures under investigation.
focusing
of changes, large and sudden or small and pervasive, upon the shape of a
culture and
its art.
None
the
less,
Africa than for other periods or areas of art history because they depend
in
histories
by
art,
On
arts.
all
a flourishing of
connoisseurship in the recent past. Yet, at the same time, Griaule's lament
is
still
more pertinent to
this
volume, the
full
still
command of history
seems remote.
Two
had
to deal
with are
first,
Nok
art has
data.
a date
re-
around
500 B.C., we know next to nothing of the parent culture or of the importance of the sculptures in that culture. Further, nothing
its
art or its
many
known with
much
later art
of Ife
art,
12
is
development, or of its
which
clearly springs
to
any
from
Preface
pre- 1 700 base to flourish for over two centuries and to survive in royal
ceremonial today.
Much
of what
we know of
preserved in the form of oral histories, which range from stories of origin
and migration to reports of wars and dynasties. Some report only that the
group was always
a hole in
are
is
The
ties.
seem not
lists
to the
to reach
in
rise to arts
at
Ghana
among
among
among
occurred
many
times,
and we must be
would lead
to
their recovery.
it
to
often proves of
little
Most
sculpture
and we assume
is,
may
we may
would seem
arts,
were the
that centralized
wax bronzes, if we can extraand Benin, for instance. Thus their survival
it
fact,
terracotta,
lost
African
arts:
with respect
first
would seem
and
to
(ter-
should be clear that any attempt to recover the history of the arts of
Africa
is
Most
with wooden masks and sculptures produced during the past few generations
and
on the
13
Preface
limitations
on
to the history
his work.
Even
of African
a reasonably full
is
have been given Nubia, Ethiopia and the Swahili coast. Further, rock
engravings and paintings are almost never discussed elsewhere; for the
most
like
more
familiar forms or
were produced
ments were not considered noteworthy or were unknown. Yet they are an
important fragment of Africa's
artistic heritage
artistic past.
We cannot ignore
art
and
of jazz
aesthetics,
or,
indeed,
is
*4
in a history
ROY SIEBER
any
art.
human accomplishment,
Acknowledgements
One
of the
many
who
gave so willingly their most valuable advice and their time reading and
correcting parts of the manuscript.
My
thanks go to
Roy
Sieber,
who
wrote the Preface, for his support and supervision, and to William Fagg
for his unflagging
encouragement and
assistance.
Of much
help in their
David W.
Phillipson,
Thurstan Shaw, Janet Stanley, Susan Vogel, Zdenka Volavka and Frank
Willett.
With
my
Herman, helped
in
Jessica
for
It is a
Ronald Segal
in particular of
w.G.
i5
Chapter
RockArt
Nubia
Nok
Kingdoms of
WT Sudan
Sherbro
Bulom
and Rissi
Kanem-Bornu
Kororofa
Akan
and
'Sao'
Jukun
B.C.
30 000-
85005
s
65005000-
-g
>\"
~o
3500-
*0
9-
e
<5>
3
<o
3000-
"9
2500
.2
2000-
3
~3
n.
<*>
^"
1500nj
000500-
3
3
(3
t
5
AD.
3
c
ly)
m
Uj
500-
ns
"T3
si
i2.
,3
a'
V5
6C
o
S
nj
<
si
ex
..3
<^>
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E
UJ
^J
$
j
s
g
-s:
ni
"*3
'O
5J
f?
CO
000-
5
-i;
r?
nj-
o
Pi
1500-
8
.a
1900-
o
o
CO
to
to
<
Jjl
3i
*
c
'^
*i
2iP
1
3
ns
1o
k.
.o
*<
3
-*;
"?
in
s
-*
<
10
li
\Z
Igbo-Ukwu
Yoruba
Niger TJelta
Cross River
Benin
and
13
14
IS
Southern
Eastern
^Southern
Savanna
Africa
Egypt
Europe
N. Africa
(West of Egypt)
Africa
BC
-soooo
\Q500
6500
5000
3500
3000
2500
T5
-2000
I
-1500
1000
ftq
500
B.C.
AD
soo
-31
1000
-^1 T5
^T
1500
1900
2.
Political
map
of Africa, 1983.
ONE
Introduction:
An Approach
of Africa
History
to the
Visual Arts
The
background,
is
period have been remarkable, but considerable gaps remain in our knowledge of the arts in whole regions, of the purpose for which artefacts were
we
shall
many
recent
Mesopotamian and
mid nineteenth century, it was
commonly believed that 'no authentically Greek art existed before the
Parthenon', i.e. before about 450 B.C. The sensational discoveries made
is
Egyptian
art.
As short
aspects of Greek,
after
first
[1].
with the outbreak of the First World War; these excavations were resumed
in the twenties
ical
and are
still
proceeding.
The accumulation
way brought
of archaeolog-
Although
fully
difficulties
With
come
to
make such an
involved in
am
convinced
attempt.
Aksum and
Ethiopia, Africans
Arabs
in the
The
size
of the continent,
its
19
From Amorgos.
2.
Young
girl
1900-1550
with scarifications.
B.C.
c.
2000
B.C.
Marble. 35
Andre Held.
From
the grave of a
cm
young
girl at
tels,
Museum,
Homer
make
cases,
where guidance
is
Karl-
Museum.
some
20
Introduction
Africa,
is
more than about fifty years the humid climate and the rapacious
termites in most parts of the continent. The few objects which have
survived are evidence that use of wood dates back to antiquity [3]. 3
for
made of
Objects
and other
relatively
main
The
material and
now
methods
records are extremely sparse for the whole of western black Africa.
writings of Herodotus, Polybius, Ptolemy and others give
arts.
The
some valuable
From
the eighth
century onwards there are the reports of Arab chroniclers and geographers
3.
in
Head and
known African
figure carved
35. Length 50.5 cm (20 ins). Musee Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren.
Photo: courtesy
Musee Royal de
l'Afrique Centrale.
21
alas,
tion of art works, or of the artists and their role. Writings by Portuguese
Rome, Coptic
documents, the Bible, and Sabaean inscriptions are rich material for the
study of the history and art of Nubia, Aksum, Ethiopia and some other
parts of eastern Africa.
The
is
classification of
mation.
The
styles
and symbols.
The
'griot',
which
it
in
can be applied.
is
the
equivalent of the European court chronicler. His stories are rarely tied to
Kuba
But Torday,
for
in dating events or
Kuba
in African,
dating art in
some
Observations in the
and iconography
people
by ethnographers and
contemporary
to the art of
role of
art
social anthropologists
museums
cases.
field
Euro-
to identify the
The
is
on techniques,
By applying
hope
styles
light
on the
social
and iconography.
these fields of study, we
number of regions and to
of nations who now live or who
all
establish a relationship
22
may throw
artists
between the
styles
Introduction
used to
live in
us the answers.
may
help to find
inter-disciplinary research.
Ideally,
it
aim, as expressed in
all
its title, is
reasonable bounds,
art history,
areas north of the Sahara play a role in the narrative because of their far-
have included the Nubians of the Upper Nile Valley, that 'corridor
4
to Africa',
Aksum, Christian
the most important concentrations of rock art on the continent, and ten
areas selected for their special art-historical significance.
The
subject
art, all in
the
recommended
in
full interpretation
of Africa's visual
arts,
can only
The
oldest
chapters on rock
known
The sequence
art,
African visual
African
is
is
and
non-European
They must
paintings, sculpture
social
all
in chronological order.
To show
examined
arts, are
chronological considerations.
ship, a chart
the
religious
try to
art,
to judge solely
by
their
own artistic
backgrounds of the
artists
emerged on the
started in
implements
in the
Egypt about 5000 B.C., probably brought there from the Levant
and Mesopotamia through trade contacts. Within 1,500 years, the Lower
23
growing urban
Egypt and
Valley. It
civilization
which culminated
emergence of dynastic
in the
Nubian
areas of the
Upper Nile
Egypt or whether,
development.
toric times
It
as
many
is
southern
sites in the
Many
in the
may go
120 years.
peoples from both North and Central Africa lived in the Sahara
variety of
to dry
up
about 2500 B.C. and became largely uninhabited by the middle of the
first
tensive
arable
once
this
ex-
although this decreased with the decline of Egyptian power; and in the
centuries B.C., greater numbers of Saharians found new homes in
Upper and Lower Nile Valley. They brought with them their own
culture, and those who managed to enter the land of the Pharaohs in the
last
the
may have
civilization.
Other waves of migrants from the Sahara moved south into the savanna,
They
whether
cattle
ence of tsetse
fly.
'Nok
doubtful
is
Age made
its
debut
at
in
sub-Saharan Africa by
ground cleared
for cultivation;
weapons and
forest to
The Sahara
into tools
be penetrated and
Age had, of
in food
produc-
continued to be an
important transit route, with caravans carrying gold, ivory and other
products of the Guinea Coast and Western Sudan, to North Africa and
Europe.
moved
with
24
salt
and other
Even today,
on these routes.
Introduction
One
Mediterranean people.
Algeria,
still
as
in the style
it
was presum-
4.
is;
this type
silos
mud
to pre-
[4, 5, 6]. It is
and homes
known how
not
for entire
extended
of architecture
may go back
to pre-Christian times.
(i.e.
South Morocco.
25
5.
Fortified hold
six families,
Cob and
K.-H.
tecture.
archi-
Striedter.
In the last millennium before the Christian era, the Greeks developed
some
colonies along the coast. In 814 B.C. the Phoenicians (and with
city
later
them
state of Carthage,
were defeated by
Israel
Rome (fol-
territories of
When
Carthage
Arab and
Bedouin invasions began in the seventh century A.D., the Berbers, weakened by centuries of foreign domination, were soon subdued. They and
other nations along the coast embraced Islam without
the fourteenth century,
dox Muslim
faith;
explosively in the
sion
26
came
the
much resistance. By
in
Introduction
ifc&s;.
6.
at
Dar El Makhzen,
Tafilalt,
air
the religion of Islam, took root most deeply on the east and north coast,
where contact with the outside world was greatest. In areas far from the
Holy City of Mecca and where indigenous cultures were entrenched, the
success of orthodox Islam was
approach resulted
in
area, including
strife
upheaval and
more
new
long period of
North
Africa.
with
it
the promise
Muslim
New
In these areas and on the east coast, Islam's gifts included growing literacy
styles in architecture
and Muslim
strictures
in the
results.
27
The
same time
as the
vast part of
sub-Saharan Africa
From
speaking peoples.
dence, 13
it
somewhere
linguistic
is
its
cultural development.
9,101112 and
archaeological
evi-
in the area
A need
for
the
number of people
became
a rapid
the use of iron and had succeeded in cultivating suitable food plants. In
addition to the cultigens that they brought from their regions of origin,
of the Asian banana and yam, which were instrumental in the support of
larger
The
first
settled populations.
There they
settled,
14).
southwards and,
millennium B.C.
(Chapter
Urewe
is
is
believed to have
moved
groups
in the
Kwango-Kwilu
belt.
Urewe
the Lakes.
One
first
Two
turned east
Mombasa, Kwale type pottery originated, and then southwards to Mozambique and eastern Transvaal, where they arrived in the first centuries
era. Others proceeded due south from the Urewe area,
moving west of Lake Tanganyika, and reached Shaba and western Zambia
of the Christian
in the
middle of the
first
is
in
who had
Shaba,
its
which developed
28
at the
Shaba
end of the
it
first
all
directions from
millennium A.D.
Age
Introduction
7.
Portrait of an
1643.
Envoy from
the
Denmark from
Museum
the Royal
the National
Museum
of
The
arrival
effects
on
merce
sions
all
aspects of African
life,
come
including the
arts.
The Portuguese
and
their
com-
were the
initial
first
Europeans
in gold, cotton
to
later
made with
The
Portu-
guese explorer Diego Cao entered the estuary of the Congo (Zaire) river in
29
a well-established state
between the Portuguese and the Kongo peoples, their leaders and, above
all,
1
their king,
49 1
faith
Many
The
with him.
nobles and
But
raids
the
harmony and
to Christianity in
commoners embraced
some
after
years of
agreements be-
tween the courts of Lisbon and Sao Salvador. Resentments grew, and war
broke out, with disastrous results for the people of Kongo.
The
They were
to
of
maize, cassava and sweet potatoes from South America brought about an
era of agricultural success
The profound
social, religious
field
and commercial
of the visual
arts.
The
life
first
in
slave trade.
Christian influence in
Kongo caused
the
even
after the
is
said to have
the
new
faith.
cross, in a
became
Kongo
Kongo
as mtntadi or bttumba
religions.
The
steatite
and
sets,
dubbed
style
is
quite evident
[8, 9].
as the Afro-
had existed
of the Europeans.
Apart from the many carvings made for the Portuguese royalty and
nobility, there are those acquired (possibly also
30
Introduction
8.
patrons. Ivory. 28
cm (n
in three parts.
ins).
From
Benin,
c.
AD.
1500.
Made
for Portuguese
Museum
9.
salt cellar
and
a lid,
human
figures, lizards, a
1743. National
the Royal
67.
Kunstkammer, Copenhagen,
in
Museum
of
Among
Dresden.
a fork
'
The
in
Archduke Ferdinand
in the
Wieckmann
in the
Ulm, and
Museum
in Tyrol, started
it
Collection in
of Braunschweig
is
said
in 1805.
32
by
fine ivory
to
of Saxonia, one of
whose acquisitions
s
Duke
a cult
ox,
based on
which had
Introduction
- better suited
who
than horses to
The
African continent
is
live
these, related
organization
ship, but
and
is
villagers.
religion, music,
is
traditional
Africa to 'tribalism',
and organization of
may
be. It
is
connected with
arts closely
modern
both nomads
is
in social
its
art
is
is
not
it
specific tribes,
tribal art.
static,
But
however
nomads
3.
Main
in
and
itinerant carvers
and other
art
artists
of the tribes
while the visitors were in turn influenced by the art they found.
33
io, ii.
A man
and
woman
Africans practise
it is
some
of the south-eastern
Sudan
Nuba
and
Nuba
fighting. Photos:
it is
their only
Valley).
Most
form of visual
art;
These influences were absorbed, and the character of the tribal style still
retained its individuality, though tribes often shared stylistic traits and
iconography as a result of these contacts.
The
and
to the evolution of
technology was trade within Africa and beyond. Egypt, through the
34
'corridor' of
coastal
and dispensed enlightenment and new concepts. 16 The trade along the
caravan routes through the Sahara had the same
effects.
Civilizations
developed parallel to each other in the world beyond, as they did here,
and wherever there were contacts between different cultures there was
also diffusion of
all
of which contributed to
The
student of the visual arts and their history, whatever the region or
culture, can
his
curriculum the
arts
of Africa,
35
TWO
man
earlier
they surpass
exodus due
other
all
Sahara were forced by Berber and Arab pressure to move south, into
Sahel and Savanna; but in Tibesti, Ennedi and further east, the negroid
art
the
life
who
people,
fair-
artists
environment,
some
They
all
recorded myth-
combat the
They
tell
fertility
and
ceremonials, for which the clans probably assembled in the rock shelters.
The
centred on, and were inspired by, the art on the wall which
rites
depicted symbols
This ancient
may
known
to
all.
with
its
art,
up
millennia,
to
our time.
The
based 'on primary colours such as red, ochre, white, black and yellow with
the addition of blue and green.
in
shown
are often
sests);
side
regalia.'
To
this
day
this
is
more recent
Yoruba,
a ruler
36
is
is
times.
The emphasis
in sculpture,
shown
taller
from Nok
in nature;
to
in
modern
of Africa
short, African art (like other early artistic manifestations) has, since
ancient times, been traditional and integrated with the cosmology of the
society
fact,
and
its
order of values.
The
its first
is,
in
history
book.
The
Portuguese missionary,
1000
Areas of rock
the Royal
reported in 1721 by a
Academy of History
in
Lisbon
ZOQOkm
1000 miles
500
4.
who told
first
art.
37
12.
Painting of cosmological
(?)
n'Ajjer, Algeria.
left
Inaouanrhat, Tassili-
/^
'
made
No
were included
or,
38
scientific data
political unrest
search in
many
We can
of Africa
needed
treasury of Stone
Age
who
art.
first
Afri-
13.
in
The
paintings in the
Giant masked figure with superimpositions (or superhuman being?). Sefar, Tassili-
n'Ajjer,
Algeria,
c.
7th-6th millennium
B.C.
Painting.
cm
mm
39
;^v
'
K....
14.
Figures with intricate coiffure and dress (or body decoration?). Centre of large group of
figures.
Tan Zoumaitak,
millennium
cm
(39 ins).
10,000 B.C., compared with the most ancient African dates, from 8000 to
6500 B.C.
for the
7,
Sahara and around 27,000 B.C. for Namibia.
European prehistoric
art includes
many
9,
sculptures - rare in Africa
The
I0 -
many
European rupestral
40
The
15.
(cattle
dans
herdsmen
la
period). Stone. 50
rock art
is
of Africa
Photo:
M.
Bovis.
most doubtful.
The
sites
nearly the entire width of the desert - 5,700 kilometres from the Atlantic
coast to the
Red Sea
The
in the
north to the
4i
r iWiiifiiiarTr
w
1
6.
Rams
with sundiscs and Janus creature. Djebel Bes Seba, Sahara-Atlas, Algeria. Bub-
millennium
ings
number
B.C.
(59
x35
ms).
The most
westerly-
sites are in
from Tibesti
The
x90 cm
Institute.
Red
is
Nubian
desert.
shifting sands,
waterless except for occasional artesian wells, with sparse flora and fauna.
It
was once
fish.
Game
fishing
fertile land,
was
plentiful,
crossed by
nificent art
many
rivers
Much
in
lives hunting,
reduction of rainfall and the drying up of lakes and rivers, plant and
animal
life
to 1000 B.C.,
and
the people migrated to the Nile Valley in the east and the Sahel in the
south.
No
42
shown
in the
17-
cm
(7 ins).
herdsmen period,
c.
5th
18.
millennium
B.C. Painting,
herdsmen period,
c.
5th-4th
ins).
iq.
c.
Rock
7th-6th millennium
B.C.
cm
Dr
C. Staewen.
Men
lived in
some
11
to
and
this has
led
to the
12
some measuring up
to 7 metres,
ele-
larger,
and are
in
monochrome
or poly-
chrome [21, 22]. The artists used iron oxides, zinc oxides and kaolin for
their main pigments, and charcoal or burnt bones for black pigment. The
colours include deep red, purple, yellow, green, white and black, and
44
20.
Bovine with
period
(?).
spirals.
Gonoa,
Tibesti.
c.
cm
4th-3rd millennium
(31.5 ins). Photo:
Dr
B.C., cattle
herdsmen
C. Staewen.
21.
Hunters and antelope. Tin Aboteka, Tassili-n'Ajjer, Algeria. Cattle herdsmen period,
B.C. Painting, red. Height about 140 cm (63 ins). Photo: K.-H. Striedter.
5th-4th millennium
22.
Masked
figure in a
Tassili-n'Ajjer, Algeria,
c.
cm
46
B.C. (?
of Africa
t
'<>
$84
i
r1
y
Horse-drawn
23.
millennium
Width about 80 cm
Horse period,
K.-H.
1st
c.
Striedter.
binders are believed to have been egg-white, milk and honey. As absolute
dating has in most areas as yet been impossible, the main periods into
art in the
herdsmen
cattle
era).
what Mori
calls a
'roundheads' group.
15
It
a Pleistocene dating
is
prob-
able.
The
beings?),
masked men
17
and
a variety of animals
(or supernatural
- cattle,
camp
scenes; abstract
sym-
47
Fig.
i.
Spiral motifs used by prehistoric pastoral societies in Egypt, Tibesti, Tassili and
elsewhere. After P.
Huard and L.
Egypt. 3 Tassili.
48
4, 5
1,
The Rock
Some
Art of Africa
drawn by horses shown in 'flying gallop' [23], and these could have been
used for war or hunting or both. Many of the scenes show both humans
and animals
One
a
in
1). It
is
the spiral,
widespread
The
earliest
in
the central Sahara and has been dated about 6000 B.C. In the Nile Valley
it
countries and
is
documented
known in other
Minoan and My-
also
it is
much
were
later
parallel
It is
assumed
that these
cannot be excluded.
Many
all
Saharan
times onwards.
Though much
encountered in
many
The
ostrich eggshell
was
also
Rock
in
Cameroon, Upper
still
tribes of
The
ritual is
The Dogon,
too,
More
sites are
but a complete
paint on stones
(Victoria) area, 22
still
site in
tribe.
the
The
use
Lake Nyanza
listing
cattle
rock art around Darfur in the Republic of Sudan; these mostly depict
animals, but occasionally
all
in black
and
red.
human
figures
49
discovered in Tanzania, and rock art from ancient times has been found
the west by the Nile, in the east by the coast, and reaches southwards to
the 20th parallel. Furthermore, both paintings and petroglyphs were
uncovered
Nubia
all
in the south.
available.
24
times of 4000 to 3000 B.C.; continued through the Old, Middle and
Kingdoms and on
second half of the
Arab invasion
New
in the
ele-
phants, rhinos, giraffes and other animals which had vanished from the
Those made
and
in
Was
west?
humans on
their
own
27
there a diffusion of art from west to east; or from east to south and
Were
parts of Africa?
no
definite answers,
this
work.
is
to
Zimbabwe,
we have
In Zimbabwe, concen-
be found
in
trations are
found
in the
Matopo
and research.
show hunting
The
subjects
figures, floral
and strange
babwe rock
art
and colouring
Here
again, sug-
50
is
extremely
difficult for
of Africa
24.
figure
neously) called the 'White Lady' of Brandberg. Brandberg, Zisab Gorge, Namibia.
dated. Painting, reddish-brown, red, yellow and white. Height 40
a painting): courtesy
Namibia
11
Frobenius
cm
(15.75
Not
ms )- Photo
(of
Institute.
were found
in the
Apollo
cave and were dated between 27,500 and 25,500 B.C. - so far the
art.
rites.
or
artists
San originated
Their presence
in
Age
in
for their
southern Africa
Age
their
among
southern Africa
is
the
said to
about 2,000 years ago in most parts of Africa. They were hunters,
'little
people',
51
where they
still
religious
famous rain-making
rituals, their
From Transvaal
to the
Drakensberg
to the
in
the north of
contain
art,
human
occupation
adjacent sites
fieldwork. 33
She
is
though
of Lesotho
has
reticent
still
been
on the origin
unknown; 34 and
dated
25.
babwe. Probably
1st
millennium
figures, trees
and
to
about
art.
plants. Marandellas,
Zim-
Institute.
I
52
Of the
small percentage
is
and
a great variety
and
women
ing,
and
The
of Africa
are
composed of
3
in ritual activities.
eland,
human
figures
Men
36, 37
role in
San mythology,
is
very
and
at a place called
of a group of 'mermaids',
reminiscent of a waterdance.
There
The
The
26.
1.3
38
in a scene
a painting
tions.
in equal
propor-
Scene with human figures and elands. Loskop, Iditima Cave, Natal, South Africa. Not
About
no xyocm
(43.3
x 27.5
ins).
Photo of
r-~
53
humans and
may be
those made by
is
As elsewhere in Africa (and in Europe), the artist painted his work high
up on the wall or even on the ceiling of cave or shelter; so high up that it
is difficult to image how the work was actually done without scaffolding.
Equally widespread
to six layers
is
up
overpainted area are large expanses of wall space obviously never used.
Of
found
life
and myths
to
54
THREE
rock art of the Sahara and Tibesti, surveyed in the previous chapter,
many
Upper Nile
Aswan and Khartoum. Their art was
African
art,
it
was
is
its
inhabitants
are black.
the
Upper Nile
Valley -
is
own
- still
as early
spoken
in
and
to
others living in the Darfour and Kordofan areas to the west of the river.
The
life
way
trade with
The
nations.
caravan
Nubia
clay,
in the
it is
is
Khartoum
The
north; to
Chad
in the heart
Dynastic Period
still
in
(starting
was the
well developed.
parallel
The
Lower Nile
art
of making
Valley in the
By
The A-group
was excavated
Egypt
sculptures in
first
earliest pottery
culture, distinctly
was past
its
Nu-
greatness and in
55
500
300
km
miles
10N"
5.
The
Nile Valley.
In the
last
Egyptian influence
art
made
itself felt
in religion, patterns of
and reached
its
New Kingdom
Romans and
The
art,
burial
culture of the ordinary people were hardly affected, except during the
56
Nubian
become
For
all
Nubian
these reasons,
art has
been included
in this survey as a
He
ascribed
- is still
them
to the
A-group culture,
a label
of the Old
Kingdom
influence spread.
grave and
which
its
made of
magic function;
in
mieux
about 3000
female figure 6
- faute de
peak
when Egyptian
it
B.C.
Fired clay,
painted light brown, decoration dark red-brown, interior black polished. Height 19.4 cm
(7.6 ins). Fitzwilliam
Museum.
57
The
earliest
known
is
representation of an animal
made by
it is
fertility.
the A-group
The
The end
[27].
is
have yet been made and for which the denomination of B-group had been
reserved. This
Such
is
now
clarification
fiction'.
probably
The
is
Kerma
Upper Nubia, and expanding into Lower Nubia towards its end in 1500
B.C.; and the C-group of Lower Nubia, producing its art during the same
period. Both terminated around 1500 B.C., when the New Kingdom
brought large parts of Nubia under its rule.
Egypt exerted
its
Nubians
to a greater
dynasties.
During the
power of the
Thus
the
showed
first
to
Nubia
at the
time
The
to the distinctly
much coarser Egyptian-type clay vessels. With the advent of the New
Kingdom and renewed Egyptian domination, the process of acculturation
resumed, but Kushite customs and
artistic
nobility
withdrew
to their
own
58
-^*->
28.
Anthropomorphic
From
10cm
(2.9ms).
Museum
of Cultural
tory.
29.
greyish-brown.
1 1
.7
cm
B.C.
Fired clay,
59
The anthropomorphic
woman
This,
(although there
it is
The
is
I2
in
Lower Nubia
and appears
[28] has
been
pregnant
to represent a
a sheep.
found
figure
11,
attributed to the C-group,
show
that this
is
The body
is
a fine sculpture
produced
a very ancient
[30]
is
It is
in the late
between the
cattle
'
'
poorly
may
and show
link
it
a pos-
Nubian C-group; even, indeed, between the peoples of these two areas. 16
A typical C-group bowl, in hemispherical shape, brownish-red outside
with black rim and interior, decorated with hatched bands, has a wall
thickness of only 6 millimetres. In a later period (1900-1650B.C), the
potters of
first
with rock drawings and sculpted bovines from the same general area and
30.
Bovine animal with sphere on head. From Aniba. C-group, 1900- 1550
to rock paintings at
link
people, both cattle breeders. Fired clay, light brown. Length 6.8
Museum, Karl-Marx-Universitat,
cm
Museum.
\
60
31.
Bowl with
incised decorations.
cm
From
Museum,
medium
Museum.
period.
17
Many
and bird-shaped
all
of them from
cemeteries.
The
animal figures or abstract patterns in ivory, copper or mica. Even for this
characteristic
of the
Nubian pantheon.
The artists and craftsmen of ancient Nubia were masters in the use of
many different materials and made splendid jewellery of gold and cornelian.
Kerma;
period of the
Kerma
as a pendant.
During
that
at
same
its
spouts, others in graceful animal forms or with sculpted rams' heads and
some
in considerable quantities,
The
Egyptian
style, regalia,
61
32.
King Shabaqo
(XXVth dynasty).
in offering gesture.
From
5.6
traditions
and
artistic
sculptures, buildings
cm (6 ins).
National
Museum,
Athens,
Museum.
in
many
fine sculpture
a beautiful naturalistic
62
in
of the
in a position
is
of religious
33.
Ceremonial spoon
century
B.C. Faience,
(4.25 ms).
in
form of
swimming
girl
with a basin.
From Sanam.
8th-7th
cm
offering,
it
may
There
is
manner
On
in
Nubian
in character.
symbols of his rule over the twin nations of Egypt and Nubia. The folds
in his face,
tip
artists
stones.
They
also
position and holding a basin in her outstretched hands [33], has been
ceremonies. 21
cataract:
later
and
was found
It
as
it is
in
Upper Nubia,
non-Egyptian
in character
origin
is
just south
of the fourth
and resembles
stylistically
from the Napatan period. The bronze figure of a goose has Egyptian
which was
it is,
definitely Kushitic.
A gold earring in the shape of a ram's head was found in Meroe and
been dated
seat
from Napata
workmanship,
it
to
Meroe
in
i.e.
before the
move of
22
Though Kushitic
270 B.C.
has
the rcyal
in style
and
Kush with
Egypt.
63
A-
34.
Leg of Kushitic
though such beds are purely Nubian. From El Kurru. Bronze, grey-green. 56 cm (22
Museum
35.
Museum
Museum
Museum
cm
at
cm
(6.9 ins).
Photo: courtesy
of Fine Arts.
Many
artefacts that
were found
in the area
bears the
name of
the
64
ins).
of Fine Arts.
cylinders - the
tombs
The
in the
unknown
in
number of
in a
Egypt. 23
tablets
artists
were found
in
of ancient Napata.
some
and
steatite are
to the rule of
period
appears that
it
carried into a
artists
The
in archaeological or historical
and
illustrated
excavations in
or produced locally from imported iron and that 'only after the decline of
Meroe did
become an
iron
.'
2S
Amborn,
is
absolutely
era;
Even
in
Egypt, iron smelting can be proved only from the Ptolemaic period (33030 B.C.) onwards. As there was no iron smelting in Meroe until
(the slag
to
is
its
in
decline
Meroe
Egypt,
is,
in
between 700 and 600 B.C. This result is based on a sample from the
bottom of the largest slag heap in context with pieces of iron and iron
slag;
Nubian
moved
royal court
to
at
which the
The
figure of a
young
girl
is
Napatan
in origin
which
it
cast
served as
Meroitic influence.
Another bronze
sents a prisoner
stylistically.
stone,
is
casting,
and
is
31
though
this
time
madeof solid
metal, repre-
bound
and
65
36.
Handle of
a vessel in
hollow
cast.
British
Museum.
16.9
cm
form of
young
Meroitic craftsmen,
The
who
Great Enclosure
at
also left
added
detail
to over a period
behind
is
one of the
and carving
finest
in the
- represents a
to the
Enclosure
[38].
New
it
The
was
built
and
architectural
- typically
Meroitic
The ram,
the sacred
examples;
Nubia
[37],
inant in
outstanding architecture.
in building
much
Musawwarat es-Sufra
made
tomb
or in the chapel
itself.
of
67
38.
Ram
and
lions.
From
the
brown with
Agyptisches
Museum,
Berlin,
They were often rendered as winged figures, and the rank of the people
commemorated by them was usually indicated by the position of their
arms, clothing and jewellery. The example shown [39] is of a high sculptural quality, but there are many others which are crude and undistinguished. Some memorials on tombs were heads which quite obviously
never formed part of a whole figure [40]. The style of these - known as
'reserve heads' -
is
Greek influence
woman known
as the
These
all
are
all
made by
Venus of Meroe[4i].
- like this
carving
by the
It
belongs
- in the
stylistically to a
art fashion
then developing in
Alexandria.
art',
The
ring illus-
68
hinged
The
shield in this
example
contains a ram's head crowned with a large sundisc, the whole worked in
gold with fused glass inlays and a cornelian bead; behind the ram's head
is
a temple gate.
pyramid
at
Some ornaments
jewellery
The
Meroe
is still
in
which
was found
in a
Head of
40.
possibly cicatrice.
Sandstone.
39
{left).
Ba-statue.
Man
Sandstone.
Cairo,
bracelets; folded
his back.
JE 40232.
69
stylistically related to
art
had
Meroitic
41.
Nude
first
century B.C.
is
the representation
Greek geometric
art
artists.
female torso - 'Venus of Meroe' - in the style of figures in the Royal Baths
at
Meroe, based on Roman art, ascribed to influence from Alexandria. From Meroe, Royal Baths.
2nd~3rd century
Staatliche
a.d.
ins).
^hVrrr
Bf^
LJgJH
1 Wmfil&:-*toLlnbti.
w&frn ***- ~--~"
3L
iSSIraBlL
NtSjRSi^tf4
KV i
42.
<g
f sfWfifiEWj Wmlr
^fiW
>:
>
Iftflf^^Snl
-%-<&
Shield-ring, depicting a ram's head in front and the facade of a chapel at the rear of the
is
hinged.
1st
green and blue fused-glass inlays and cornelian bead. Height 5.5
century
cm
(2.
B.C.
Gold with
16 ins). Staatliche
Sammlung
Agyptischer Kunst.
43.
1st
Ornament
century
(?
B.C.
Gold. Staatliche
courtesy Staatliche
made
queen or lady
West African
influence.
wood with
of nobility. The
of
we may
distinguish
latter
category
comprises the very fine eggshell ware and the larger vessels, usually
distinctively decorated,
to
be of a quality
2nd-3rd century
Brooklyn Museum.
72
Museum,
and vine
leaves.
From
(?)
Karanog or Faras.
Charles
The
stone, red.
courtesy
The
Width 42.8 cm
Noba 34 from
when
the
power from
Kingdom. Indeed, the town of Meroe was sacked by the Noba even
before the
Kingdom
From
Museum Naradowe.
pressure of the
the
(16.85 ins).
as a
artists
is little
in
about
many
of the objects were found in cemeteries at Ballana, though the area of this
culture
is
much
wider.
The
The
Roman
show
but also
tianity; this
new
era,
which
The new
Kingdom
later,
Aiwa
of Kush.
-
adopted
art
73
WS
'
f
n)
1
:
46.
Saint
Nubian
(5.87
/-US-*
Menas on
horseback.
text; therefore
Found
of Nubian origin,
in hills near
c.
a.d. 1000.
OR 6805.
Drawing on parchment.
14.9 x 9
cm
are
some of
the
many
objects found that illustrate Nubia's Christian art [45, 46]. This period
came
to
century.
By
from the
area,
74
had disappeared
FOUR
The
Nok
Culture
man
ago.
fire
The
a factor.
From
westwards
Sahara -
For
there,
as far as
own
it is
is
the
Tibesti.
It
Upper Nile
Valley,
which
where
Chad and
happened
may have
still
there,
their
in Africa, that
Nubians produced
And
it.
many areas
of ancient
human
potsherds found are evidence that these early Africans had mastered the
technique. So
far,
is
Dent Young,
terracottas, including
images of a
foot
a partner
group of
and of a monkey's
museum
of Jos.
Fifteen years on, in 1943, near Jemaa, a beautiful pottery head [47], which
was brought
to the
He
hypothesized that he was dealing with a single culture, 'Nok', not only
The
Museum.
and 200
miles north to south, in the valley above the confluence of the Niger and
Benue
rivers.
From
there
hundreds of
methods
it
was recovered
years,
in
open
in recent times. It
many
may be assumed
remains, swept there by the force of water from their places of origin,
possibly at considerable distances from Nok, were destroyed during the
earlier
tin-mining operations.
75
47 (below). Head.
Nok
culture.
on forehead.
Nok culture. Found in tribute mining in sand at depth of about 3.5 metres,
cm (7.48 ins). National Museum, Jos, 57.88.1. Courtesy
Commission for Museums and Monuments, Lagos. Photo: Andre Held.
(right).
Head.
National
76
The Nok
The
prolonged searches
come
mainly
to light during
Culture
figures -
conformed
of variations in sub-styles.
The
to the
pupils of
line.
The mouths are thick-lipped, sometimes open but rarely showing teeth.
The nose is usually broad with perforated wide nostrils; some have
elongated bridges. Ears are occasionally of exaggerated size and placed in
unnatural positions.
77
49.
Nok
culture.
Found
in the
Museum,
Commission
for
Heads have been found of various shapes from spherical to ovoid, with
some greatly elongated and angular [50,51]. And such variations have
appeared
in a single site.
eyes, noses,
worn by people
78
artists.
In spite of such
hairstyles,
some of which
are
still
50.
vessel.
Nok
The Nok
Culture
cm
(3.98 ins).
Figures are shown with decorative dress, male and female pubic coverings, hats
woven
and caps
textiles
[52].
Much
fibres.
No
shoes or
far.
and beads of various types, but no rings on toes or fingers and no earrings.
79
51.
Nok culture. Found at Katsina Ala. Terracotta. 20.5 cm (8 ins). NatMuseum, Jos (gift of Tiv Local Authority), 51. 24.1. Courtesy National Commission
Museums and Monuments, Lagos. Photo: Andre Held.
Elongated head.
ional
for
80
The Nok
52.
One
figure.
Nok
culture.
Found
in tribute
mining
at
Culture
cm (4.13 ins).
Museums and Monu-
National
Museum,
Commission
for
81
A number
may
magico-medical purposes.
There
are
figures, including
monkeys, elephants
and rams; but the greatest number represent snakes of various kinds. The
snake is widespread as a cult symbol in Africa, and is often found sculpted
on
vessels,
cults.
the continent
up
Some Janus
many
areas of
to the present.
too,
were
Most
finds have
alluvial washes,
all
tin
They were
rolled
and damaged by
which might have been shrines or graves. Their function could have been
connected with funeral ceremonies, ancestor cults or other religious
rituals.
though not
figures are
and such
as representations of chiefs -
still
used today as
a use in antiquity
finials
is
spirits.
and
Ceramic
[56],
may have
or as charms and
amulets, possibly
by combed, stamped or
incisions or
were used
The
facial
at
any time.
surface can
still
On many
in
when
The
size
open
fire,
for
no
kilns
were used.
It is
mouldings, 8 as
82
about one to three or four. These are the so-called 'African propor-
The Nok
53.
Female
bust.
Nok
culture. Terracotta.
Culture
nostrils.
51.0cm
tions'
still
used by
many
tribes
that,
amazingly,
The
only other
pottery figures
common
masks
54.
is
known African
that of Ife,
with Nok.
which
Some Yoruba
Terracotta. 32
for
84
cm (12.6 ins).
stool.
cm
pot.
Egungun
hairstyles,
both
National
and elaborate
The Nok
Culture
Roof finial in form of female figure with head of ape. Gwari (related to Nupe). NorthAge unknown. Terracotta. 45 cm (17.72 ins). Musee Barbier-Muller, Geneva,
1015/6. Photo: courtesy Musee Barbier-Muller.
56.
east Nigeria.
85
two
Ife terracottas
from
a disc
Ita
on the forehead
of hems of garments
is
similar in Ife
like
or trunks, found as
The treatment
some Yoruba wood carvings of our time; but the chronological gap in
the case of the Yoruba is too great to justify theories of connection.
The dating of the Nok sculpture by carbon 14 and thermoluminescence
in
has produced a consensus of opinion that fixes the period of the culture
to
must be concluded
that
it
is
a highly
much
earlier
Nok
is
disputed
may
known
is
still
As the theory
is
B.C. Given the intricacy of the process and the high temperature required
in smelting,
it is
discovered
it
most unlikely that the Stone Age people of the Jos plateau
by themselves.
It
may
reached them from the north, where the Berbers had possibly learned
During
site,
tin
it
to
it
must
East.
excavations, objects
figures
made of wrought
also found.
domestic pottery
Carbon 14
tests
mid
fifth
many
of which
of 300 B.C.
100.
north to Katsina Ala in the south, Jemaa in the east and Abuja in the
west, suggests that the
Nok
appears to be in a
late
Nok
13
style [54].
As Yelwa and
86
and
Nok and
stylistically.
at least
Ife are
Ife
is
one
about
credible
FIVE
tania,
which produced
West Sudanic
civilization
to this culture
migrated from
in antiquity
There
are
some data on
great
(in the
made
is
It also
mentions and
+ 160
80. Here
north-east of the
and
this part
to 1670 B.C.
As
there
is
origin,
history - and, in particular, the art history - of the region are thin and
often unreliable. Historical records start with the arrival of the Arabs in
North
Africa;
empire, was
Fazari, an
and the
made
first
el
Arab geographer.
the legendary
Wagadu,
kingdom
Mande
people with a long record of contact and trading with the North African
Berbers. 3 At the time of the islamization of the north which started in
the eighth century A.D.,
capital at
Kumbie
Ghana was
already a powerful
(probably Kumbie-Saleh).
The
kingdom with
divine
Ghana
its
or king,
silver,
is
and
one of
These chronicles
also
neither this description nor the remnants of such buildings on the sites of
*7
i i II
Mosque, Mopti.
Built of
unbaked
58.
88
The Kingdoms
ancient cities give us any idea of shape, style or construction of preIslamic architecture in the area. There are, of course, ancient mosques
in
extant in typical Sudanic-Islamic style [57, 58, 59]. The great mosque
of Jenne dates back to the fourteenth century, though repairs of the mud
still
walls have
buktu
is
had
to
59.
of
Tim-
though
89
It is
now
Ghana which
the
earlier,
rainfall
and
a favourable climate.
presumed
is
to date
Berbers and black Africans of the West Sudan starting about 2000 B.C. 6
Later, perhaps from 1000 B.C. to the sixth century A.D., the
first
organ-
The
and other
West
Almoravid Moslems. Wars
Sudanic
states,
it
was succeeded
by the empire of Mali, which extended the borders of its predecessor very
considerably.
produced
to
their trading
kings
nor he
and
to the
now
treated as an equal
states, the
kingdom of
Portugal and other Mediterranean countries. Its decline began in the mid
fifteenth century
under
their
1464.
expanded further
to the west
and
These
90
at the
power
in
historical data,
east,
to
The Kingdoms
6.
The empires
to say
many European
travellers after
them
seem not
But
to
- like
them simply
as 'idols' or
and architecture,
common
people,
is
since.
made
Museum
so close to the
at
is,
a considerable
found
after
figure,
when
it
found
makes
1940 of a terracotta
woman, which
is
now
number of terracotta
in the area
and European
all,
The
style that,
Dakar.
Dogon
in
collectors.
These were
all
local
farmers
mud
of the
Inland Niger Delta, and there are practically no scientific data available
their age in
9*
stratigraphic context.
Some
Then,
in
found
corresponded
in style
first
They
with the
mound
the
in
that the
area had been continuously occupied for over 1,000 years and had been
Jenne
the
first
confirmation that
of pottery,
objects
is
art
10
obtained.
There
radiocarbon
therefore, a
is,
dating
of A.D.
several other
11 50
140 was
when
falls
the objects were placed in the pit from which they were excavated
somewhere between the years A.D. 1000 and 1300.
There
may be
monkeys,
snakes,
in varying poses:
figures
as
Stylistically, the
first,
hands on knees, on
Among
by themselves or
humans.
figures;
are
The
and
clay pastilles,
by
number
number of
ethnographical work
is
variations, indicating
Much more
archaeological and
stylistic classification.
image
is
in the art
is
major feature
is
92
its
Maghan Diabe,
capital
the re-
Kumbi-Saleh, made
with the legendary snake Bida that the most beautiful virgin would
The Kingdoms
60.
61.
style.
Terracotta. 63
cm
Baudouin de
be sacrificed to
Oral tradition
to
it
tells
of a magician
who had
fertility.
be sacrificed and killed the snake Bida in order to save her. This,
said, led to a
Jenne-jeno.
The
it is
12, I3
sacrifice
of a virgin
is
94
fallen in love
was
said to
To
dangerous
in the foundations.
The Kingdoms
fact,
two
pottery torsos excavated by the Mclntoshes were found near the foun-
14
But
in the description
of their excavations in
1977, the Mclntoshes also suggest that the complete kneeling figure found
cult.
altars' in the
where
to houses in Jenne,
which
base this
entrance
possible.
to
sacrifices
The
They
is
also
That theory remains uncorroborated. Yet funerary vessels conwhich leads to the belief that - as in other
and servants,
dead were given not only food but possibly also wives
in the
to
accompany them on
their
way.
number of
certain
found
brass castings
some
in the area. In
to light,
the lost
cases iron
was used
No
sculpture
come
made by
clay, a
to
at the
time of the
Mali empire, when they were worn by musicians and dancers performing
before the king.
Such
exciting
It
has a very distinctive style, although there are geographical and chron-
ological variations. In
local school of artists
The
many
hand of
cases, the
can be distinguished.
by
hands resting on
and
legs
a dividing line.
lifted
their knees.
Arms
There
The
the hands of the seated male placed protectively on the shoulders of the
artists
were able
many
to express strong
figures, seated
emotions
- fear,
The embracing
couple [63]
is
and
The medium
asymmetrical
rider
is
mount, which
in the illustrated
example
[64] turns
95
62.
cotta.
24
cm
(9^ ins).
Roberta Entwistle.
96
Ex
a.d.
(Oxford 281 h
57.1).
Terra-
The Kingdoms
^^^^^^Rh^^H
>
'
vl
^h
^flpp!if^Y
IP"
63.
test).
Terracotta. 19
cm (j\ ins).
a.d.
(thermoluminescence
Stanley.
97
its
in the
Western Sudan among the Senufo, Dogon[65; compare with 66] and
Bamana but
Cameroon
(mostly astride animals other than the horse), in Benin and Yoruba
During
98
is
unknown, though
their
art.
The Kingdoms
64
{left).
Equestrian figure.
Wood. 82 cm
99
66.
Equestrian figure.
Terracotta. 66
cm
From Ancient
The
statues
been memorials
to chiefs
whose
status
100
own
or as part of
and
fish.
human
figures)
and of
The Kingdoms
Very
little is
that they
To
known about
these belonged the dyeli or bards (griots), the smiths (makers of arms
whom
were
officials at court,
at the
The
artists, all
They
inferior
and
17
women, but
there
is
no record
female or male
of
to
made by
artists.
figures.
Among
pieces
67.
Miniature mask.
staffs),
Bronze. 8
cm (315
ins).
Collection Baudouin de
IOI
jewellery.
Of the
latter,
adornments of bracelets,
anklets, necklaces
Mention should
also be
made
figures.
that
some body
art, at least in
the form
68.
Pendant depicting
Musee
102
Barbier-Miiller.
Dogon wood
a seated
5.5
cm
carving.
male with
(2.16 ins).
a snake undulating
Musee
from throat
to
abdomen.
The Kingdoms
to a close
ing tribes and nations, and with itinerant artists. This brought about an
makes
acculturation which
the art of the
it
possible to speak of a
common
heritage in
Towards
their
own
states:
to
geographer,
Mungo
conquer
cities in
A British
I little
'a
expected to find
bosom of Africa'. The 'view of Kamalia' from his book shows the
Bamana town or village which has changed little. Bamana
in the
architecture of a
art has
The
Soninke,
the
Moslem
people.
states, also
These
all
contributed
The Dogon
to,
and were
Mopti and of the Inland Niger Delta, in the fifteenth century. Oral
traditions vary as to the location from which their forefathers migrated to
their present habitat. While one version puts their origin in Mande
country, to the south-west of Bandiagara, another insists that they
came
from the north-west, or roughly the region where the Soninke founded
their
They found
agara,
who
welcome
Bandi-
8
'
fleeing
from
The Tellem
Dogon but
the
a separate nation.
scientific expeditions,
may be
chronological groups:
(a)
(b)
to
103
Hk
69.
22
turtle.
Photo: courtesy
Musee Royal
de l'Afrique Centrale.
70.
Musee Royal de
Centrale.
(?)
Musee Royal de
ins).
l'Afrique
The Kingdoms
Dutch group,
gradually decreased;
and towards the seventeenth century, the process of their extinction was,
apparently, complete.
to
Bandiagara
radiocarbon tests
Upper
ing to an area in
The
These findings
left
Volta,
However, Tellem/Dogon
territories
as
of the Sudanic
many common
styles,
states,
iconographical trends.
many
close neighbours
Tellem caves
correctly
in the
at
by the Mabube,
Archaeo-
logical dating puts these pieces of cloth in the eleventh to the thirteenth
century or
earlier.
21, 22, 23
24
in the elev-
enth and twelfth centuries. Such bowls have also been discovered along
Timbuktu
to Niani,
to the
seventh century. Others found in the Buguni area date from the eleventh
to twelfth century.
The
fact that
is
due
to trading contacts
The Dogon,
Upper
to
300 years ago, from the north. Their northernmost outpost today
area of Koutiala,
mean
that they
is
in the
it,
and would thus have been part of the development of the West Sudanic
Their blacksmiths, who also carved the wooden masks and
culture.
figures,
were members of
a separate caste, as
common
art,
denominators
in the
- nineteenth to twentieth
features. If we
Dogon
is
turtle
have
century
with Jenne
26
with that
105
common
The Mossi,
style.
from the south, founded two empires during the fourteenth and
fifteenth
27
centuries.
caused
other regions.
live in the
northern
Yatenga region, with centres around Belehede and Aribinda. They stayed
behind and were recognized by the invading Mossi as 'Nioniossi' or 'the
settled people',
but that
Kurumba
first
create
documentary evidence
the
Wagadugu
style.
This happened
group
later
for this;
at a
and
in
more recent
is
sparse
artefacts in the
Kurumba
by new neighbours or by peoples whom they conway Mossi styles emerged in Wagadugu and Bursa. 28
In the northern part of Upper Volta, in Yatenga province to Aribinda
the north-east, the Kurumba had their own state, called Lurum, which
creations, influenced
quered. In this
in
was established
research
30
in
into these
stelae
art history
Konfe
- the
Kurumba,
They were
spirits,
Kurumba
proximity. But
as 'Nioniossi'
and the
Kurumba
tradition tells of a
move
to
Giou where,
new
state,
in association
'Lurum
with
1 1*.
Nioniossi stone sculptures have been dated on the basis of oral history,
with corroboration from the estimated age of stelae on the tombs of rulers
(for
consequence,
106
as
The
sculptures
is,
7i.
Upper
Volta.
Wood.
173
cm
(68.1 ins).
Musee
72.
amulets, chains. 90
cm
(35.4 ins).
family
show
Dagomba
Museum
tomb
stelae.
The
style
31
to those
known time of
and
Kurumba
in her
the
all
Kurumba
the research
in
form
1330,
oral evidence,
Oueremi
Andre Held.
masks similar
masks.
Another sculpture
and served
in the
same book 34
as grindstone or grater in
is
in the
some
ritual
context (instruments
used for everyday purposes would not have been sculpted). Here again
are elements seen in
108
also apparent in
73-
Dik,
cm
36
the stone stelae.
With
deceased and
home
fulfil
the
37
Though
Kurumba
and Belehede
face
area, 38
mask with
stele-like superstructure.
A
74.
pendants:
left:
cm
cm
IIO
cm
(6.57 ins).
The Kingdoms
75 a and
b.
Sono
staff.
From
cm
(25.8 ms).
Museo Nazionale
Preistorico
produces striking
stylistic
and iconographic
similarities.
all
basically
The Dogon
Kurumba, 41 and
Mossi. 42
The
Bwa
stelae
(one of several
constant
also
How-
Mande groups
in the area)
and the
conflict
in
iconography from
many
tribes.
is
43
such movements on
Manding people
was recorded by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century; and the carvings
who came there about that time, show an affinity with Bamana
of the Baga,
art.
as
produced
Museum
staffs
Rome
da Mota published
in
his discoveries,
fieldwork in Guinea-Bissau. 44
The
were the regalia of Soninke kings and chiefs during the time of the
West Sudanic empires, and may also have been used for religious purposes
by the pre-Islamic Manding. 45 The art may have spread to Sierra Leone,
or sono may have found their way there from Guinea-Bissau. Such
assumptions are based on da Mota's discoveries, in the vicinity of
Ro-Ponka
in Sierra
said to have
gifts to
Bulom
kings.
46
in the
seventeenth century as
Mande
in the
of
Manding workmanship,
which includes
a tribe of the
West Sudanic
Museo Nazionale
known
sono
is
The
an iconographical
be seen
in
the elongated figures, the treatment of ears as raised circles, and the
112
Bamana
sculpture from
SIX
The ancient inhabitants of the areas of Sierra Leone and Guinea belonged
to the West Atlantic Coastal forest culture. They include the Sherbro and
the Kissi, who may well have arrived in their present habitations as early
as the thirteenth century,
and
little
reference to
them
in early chronicles, as
is
very
the fifteenth century were restricted to points along the coastal strip.
and dislodged the Kissi, Bulom, Sherbro and Temne. These pressures
mid
increased in the
nically related
and
narrow coastal
Toma
about 1540,
and finally around
in
north-east bordering on
country.
occupy an area
The Bulom
are
Island
to the
on the mainland
of Sierra Leone.
published the
first
sculptures,
generally
assumed
is
who wrote
thorough
historical analysis
area. Person,
at
their art
in Kissi areas
in central
"3
ii 4
76
(left).
Pomdo.
Kissi.
77 (below
left).
Pomdo, said
cm
(10.25 ins).
Musee des
Arts Afri-
Andre Held.
to represent a Portuguese in
cm
ruff.
From
Hammacher, Fabulous
Ancestors,
New
York, 1974.
78.
Pomdo. Soapstone. 18
in A. Tagliaferri
cm
New York,
1974.
"5
states
and
in Liberia to the
south-east.
Most of
whom
both of
unearthed
in the
They
Mende,
are usually
own
The
Kissi
made
is
to
it
cult.
Kissi legend affirms the use of the sculptures in initiation rites called totna
to
dugba
Toma
belonged. 4
forest culture
their
Mende
figure, said to
- are carvers
Toma style,
making of the
who owned
reverence; regarding
them
stone
was probably
them with
as
little
them
if a
crop
fails
or produces low
yields.
the
facial or
to decorate the
ally
some
[78].
But
this
a great deal in
it
an over-simplification,
and hooked
neck or indicate
hair,
Archaeological research
may
may be
more
precise classifi-
cations.
The
some
individual
on
rim.
116
The
in
was
originally based
on the
first
The Art
79.
Nomoli.
Mende
of the Sherbro,
New
cm
Bulom and
(5.5 ins).
in A. Tagliaferri
Kissi
Museum of
Ham-
and A.
York, 1974.
117
80.
lid,
probably of a
salt cellar,
Sherbro-Portuguese ivory.
of
Denmark, EDc
From
Museum
cm
Royal Kunstkammer
in
Copenhagen
relief.
Museum
in 1743.
of Denmark.
ears
6 7
-
and beard
salt
cellars.
containing these cargoes had called at Gold Coast ports, they had also
loaded
rice,
118
is
made
to this
The Art
fact
by
Bulom and
Kissi
Bulom 'make
other part
.'
.
This corroborates
Afro-Portuguese
figures
of the Sherbro,
ivories,
were found
in
workmanship than
Sherbro origin
for a large
in
any
number of
probably made by the Sherbro people before they were driven to Sherbro
Island by invaders in the fourteenth century.
The Mende
81.
Mahen
Art,
New
yafe.
From
in
called these
cm
Museum
of
IIQ
many have
hair,
some
are
British
larger than
Museum
is
steatite.
in the area,
One head
which, Allison
It is
states, 'is
assumed
that
all
and
in the
The
and
and serenity
Ife'.
is
strips
and rings often found together with stone sculptures. Recent archaeological
research in Sierra
Leone confirms
12
The
stone figures
as they could
have been
carved by the Kissi or the Sherbro before the great waves of invasions.
area do not
120
who
show any
stylistic affinity
SEVEN
Kanem-Borno and
the 'Sao' Culture
Jos plateau, the ivory, ostrich feathers and fine textiles [82] of the forest
its
far as
Egypt on the
The
political
by any African
state.
fourteenth century,
it
from
7.
Kanem
to
Borno
when
in the west.
moved
121
82.
Museum
from Darfur
to the
dynasty died
in 1846.
came
to
cm
(39 ins).
Andre Held.
border of Hausaland.
The
last
member
of the Sefuwa
produced excellent
it.
artists in
122
known
to us thus far.
Kanem-Borno and
The
Kanem-Borno
for quite
some
were islamized
time.
But
conflicts
finally defeated.
and disappeared
people. Several tribes, such as the 'Fali' on the Jos plateau and the
83.
Wine
or water
jar.
Dominique Darbois,
in
'Sao.'
Terracotta. 21
cm
They
as a separate
Kotoko
Jean-Paul and Annie Lebeuf, Les Arts des Sao, Paris, 1977.
123
may be
of northern Cameroon,
their successors.
The
'Fali',
in
fact,
produced terracotta figures between A.D. 1600 and 1900 which have a
certain similarity to 'Sao' ones, though the 'Fali' objects are much cruder.
Kotoko,
their
a possible link
is
dead
in
may be
the 'Sao', or
of people
The
huge
in a seated position in
tribes that
in
made up
the group
sites
alloys.
Early terracottas were always well fired and ranged from thick-walled
to very fine.
Many
later periods
humans
women
or animals
in
and
fashioned by men. 3
zoomorphic form,
for burial
potters,
all
made by
made of copper
objects
some
ferrous jewellery,
all
in a
alloys (containing
mainly zinc or
tin,
but some
alloyed with lead) date from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries onwards.
the
Musee de l'Homme
in Paris.
of Kotoko origin,
morphic sculpture.
Many show a
lost
fine
is
in
jewel-
anthropo-
wax technique.
Very
little is
the 'Sao' in
known about
Hausa
is
said to have
reliable information
been transported by
traders from the Jos plateau, while copper and iron are thought to
have originated in Waza, Madagali and Mora, and brought to the area via
Makari.
and
for three
man and
months
his world,
in 1978.
It
to 1971
study of early
was predominantly
art originated.
We
is
sadly
124
Kanem-Borno and
84
{left).
Musee de l'Homme,
Paris. Photo:
Dominique Darbois,
in
Bronze. 5
cm
(1.97 ins).
85.
meter 7.7
cm
(3 ins).
development
number of
sites,
1.2
in a
and, partly buried in the ground, were used for grain storage from ancient
times onwards. At
ticated decorations
Daima
125
86.
century
(?).
Terracotta. 16
cm
tricorn. 'Sao'-Kotoko.
(6.3 ins).
Held.
87
(right).
'Sao.'
Terracotta. 34
cm (13.39 ins).
Photo: Dominique Darbois, in Jean-Paul and Annie Lebeuf, Les Arts des Sao, Paris, 1977.
126
Kanem-Borno and
127
Kanem-Borno and
88
(left).
36
cm
Statue of an ancestor
(?).
Dominique Darbois,
in
Ibadan.
8cm
(3.15ms). National
Held.
representing cows,
humped
[89]
is
one of the
finest
of the earliest zoomorphic sculptures from Daima. There were also finds
of jewellery in iron and brass, and beads of cornelian, glass and clear
quartz.
Some bronze
wax
process.
pottery head of a man, the only artefact resembling the 'Sao' style,
at
Amja and
is
probably
versa.
may
is
Many
Chad
region
is its
crossroads,
and vice
Cameroon and
few of such answers, and the quest for more archaeological evidence from
the past
must continue.
129
EIGHT
the influence of
Kanem-Borno and
tribal units;
this region
the Fulani,
The
people
in the north-east to
They
They shared
and the Hausa. Jukun culture was centred on the institution of divine
kingship, to which
According
Kwararafa),
much
Arab
to
of their art
is
related.
is
until
Cross River in the south. Several authorities have considered the Jukun
to
The Jukun
left
moved
to
Wukari, their
present capital. As 'Kororofa' seems to have vanished in the mid seventeenth century,
it is
power
vacuum. 2
The
and
courtiers,
fertility
he
fell ill
drought or epidemics
is
a small
only one
known
it
The
means of
recurring
as a
The
130
and the
life
group of chiefs
- or earlier, if
there
of the Jukun
many
is
as depicted
described by
Meek
as the
Sun-God 4
Chido who,
called
Jukun religion. 5
into two art-producing
to
sectors: the
'mask-using'.
is
him
male mask, aku maga performing with one or two masks, aku waunu and
y
like all
features
surmounted by
6
a crest.
were made
to the
Wurbu and
roon highlands,
1 l
sacrifices to
the
the
the
Wurkun
among
Came-
figures are
]
or wives
in pairs of
as guardians of crops, to
They were
owners.
and there
Jukun
are the
Nupe, Waja,
and iconographic
similarities.
Rubin 13 on the
role of Jukun-speaking
found
in the area of
On
stylistic,
traits,
No age is mentioned
131
90.
Three Jukun
Left (female)
figures.
56.5
cm
From Benue
(22.25 ms).
ins).
nails.
Right (male) 72
cm
91
{left).
live
sion' or
92.
Female
figure. Identified
by Arnold Rubin
as
on Tarba and mid-Benue River, between Jibu and Bakunde; probably used
Mam cult.
Monumental male
figure.
Roger Asselberghs.
10
cm
in 'posses-
Werner Forman.
Probably
93.
Two
eastern Nigeria. Left: wood, encrustation, metal eyes and nose ring, iron spike. 38.75
(15.25 ins). Right: wood, encrustation, fibre, cowrie shells, iron spike. 45.75
cm
(18
cm
ins).
nected with a healing cult carried ceremonial axes [96] with an iron haft
on which
bronze head was fixed with an iron blade issuing from the
finely
Chamba
in ancient times.
No such
have
Wurkun and
also
implements
Mumuye,
Tiv.
Prestige textiles
woven with
traditional motifs
horizontal looms.
94.
Anklet with hinged gates. Jukun, Wukari area. Part of the regalia of the
Wukari,
a chief
Commission
for
cm
Kukuma
of
Museum,
Lagos. Photo:
Arnold Rubin.
135
95-
ing
hippopotamus.
Wukari-Bantaji Road.
Aku
of the
decorations.
tail)
13.7
65. L. 3.
for
cm
Museum,
Lagos.
96.
Ceremonial
Nigeria.
From
Abakwariga or Tiv,
axe.
Chamba
healing
cult.
Iron
blade,
mouth of anthropomorphic
issuing
cast
from
bronze
cm
Peter
J.
Northeastern
Metal
Nigeria',
in Africa,
New
in
The Art of
York, 1982.
NINE
reaching towards
is
Upper Volta
in the north,
to the south,
and
to the
live.
east,
Mande-Dyula
as traders or invaders.
The
Akan
group, are centred on Kumasi, with the Fante in the coastal area, the
its
(also
many
Brong or Bono)
tributaries
is
The mighty
in the north-west.
Volta
multitude of other
rivers cross the country to flow into the ocean in the south.
later, virtually
God and
in the
creator
Nyame,
in spirits of rivers
or
sewn on
to garments.
and bush,
art
may
needs of the
state, the
in witchcraft
pendant
be described as
most Akan
and
form of
'spirit
domestic requirements. In
many
when
chosen because
the country
it
their forefathers
historical
embodied the
is
now doubted by
all
scholars,
at least in small
may
137
8.
The
first
is
Some
showed
The
much more
Akan.
took place in
to the
who have
millennium B.C.
city
in
for the
was destroyed
in 1750,
and excavations
at its site
138
The
Begho was
technologies,
many
hundred miles
to the north.
Their
first state,
The founding
Bono Mansu was followed by the emergence in the forest zone of the
kingdoms of Akwamu, Adansi, Twifo, Denkyira and many others. The
northern merchants who traded with all these Akan states brought with
them fresh concepts and 'the ideology of Islam' in addition to new
technologies. All this must have had a profound and lasting effect on Akan
of
arts.
The growing
the
who landed in
Then
470s and 1480s and were followed by the Dutch and French.
came
the British,
who
ruled the
Gold Coast
as a
The Europeans,
like their
Mos-
and
salt,
but also sold muskets and became very active in the growing coastal slave
trade.
This involvement and the introduction of firearms into the area led
to strife
states
and
to
domination by the
The power
the
Golden
Stool:
to
The
chiefly
Of Gods,
Life
number of Akan
limited
depended on the
and Death
art objects
were made
The
whether private or communal, was the 'god's bowl'. There were also
carved figures, each representing one of a great
number of minor
deities
like those
of statues of Christian
were brass
saints.
stools
in shrines
traits.
Very few wooden carvings were made by Akan sculptors. The most
y
significant are
akua ba
and area of
origin.
Asante, has a
flat
The best-known
which
The
torso
is
most often
fat rolls,
symbols of prosperity
with breasts and navel indicated, and with horizontal rudimentary arms,
39
or occasionally armless. This ends in a base, and those akua 'ba which
akua
tradition of the
most
distinctively
'ba
Akan sculpture
later date.
is,
The Fante
The
this
the head as rectangular, and a variety of akua 'ba figures in Cole and Ross
or,
daughter. Other
in cults,
before the nineteenth century, are mother and child figures, seated on a
The woman
sometimes
at
and motherhood
infant;
The Baule
their
women
There are
at the
to oral tradition
at
is
Baule figures and masks are of serene beauty, with an attractive dark,
almost metallic, patina.
Masks
called go
had
is
human
faces,
Ratton Collection.
12
and perhaps
Other masks
guli,
mask
is
buffalo
to represent the
sun and to be
in the service
of the
sky-god Nyame.
The Baule
140
madefy them
accommodate
the
The Art
97.
Entwistle,
spirits
home
to provide a
These
are carved
of nature-spirits
produced, there
is
spirit-lover.
no difference
But
(4 ins). Collection
London.
dangerous
from
cm
of the Akan
made
in the
as the latter
its
is
to the nature-spirit
is
always
sacrificial
is
carefully incised
The
it,
so
always well
bodies have raised cicatrice marks. Baule figures usually have small
mouths,
finely
lids,
and eyebrows
141
98.
(7 ins). Collection
Andre
99
{right).
collection. Photo:
ins).
Private
Horst Kolo.
is
the
egbekre or ape spirit, the guardian, often placed at the village gate, bowl
in
hand.
ensure
He
is
fertility in
There
is
it
travellers.
14
him
to
The
first
vessels
142
sacrifice to
who
report
is
first
mentioned by Euro-
The Art
of the
Akan
143
ioo.
Head. Part of
figure.
cm
The Art
He
king.
round about
all
his grave'.
Barbot
tomb of a Fante
who
those
in
of the Akan
1680 and
Bosman
were used
symbols,
well
same purpose.
for the
Those with
figures
on
lids or overall
known
to all
Akan people
were made
The
heads,
meant
chiefly
and royal descendants only. 18 Both vessels and heads were placed
in or near the
time - often
to
cemetery during
many weeks
a funeral
floor of the
where the
room above
in,
the
entombed person.
Some vessels and abusua kuruwa were reportedly placed in stool rooms or
shrines, but in most cases they remained at or near the place of burial.
Use of the terracotta heads was very widespread and has been documented all along the coast of Ghana, into the Ivory Coast, and as far as
Techiman in Bron country [98, 99, 100]. Archaeological data 19 from sites
at Ahinsan and Hemang are given for various objects, dating them to the
vessels
in the
the
now
at the
Department of Archaeology,
first
such an age for figurative pottery must be very questionable until there
are further finds reliably dated to that period. Excavations
James
Bellis
20
of three
sites at
Hemang,
some
revealing
were made by
fine terracotta
fragments, mostly heads broken off funerary vessels dated about 1650 to
1700.
work
in
states.
is
no
clear
centred on what he considers the more promising areas: the old kingdoms
of
Akwamu,
He
doubtedly due to
Akan
settlements. 22
local variations
Some
of the potters.
145
The
art
led us to believe,
23
and
its
is
much
The
it
their
century, Arab travellers have described the splendour at the courts of the
the adornments of the ruler, his retinue, servants, horses and palaces.
The
and courtiers
tion,
ioi.
in early
Akan
states,
Stool. Akan.
Ghana.
Wood
with
hammered
28cm
Museum.
silver strip.
British
(11 ins).
Museum
of
The Art
The
of the Akan
power
most
in
organized societies in the world. In Akan kingdoms the role of the stool
it became parabecame the incarnation of the soul of the
nation, whose physical well-being, even survival, was inseparably linked
to it. It is, therefore, not only the most important item of the Asantehene's
was
central,
regalia,
but
from the
Stool
The
a cult object
sky',
it
governors from 1896 until after the return of the Asantehene, exiled by
the British
the
Gold Coast
in 1901.
When
was
it
discovered that pieces of the stool and golden bells had been stolen, the
a period of
A new
mourning.
from
wood
a single
typical
Akan
The
stool.
like the
latter is
carved
bottom and
concave seat on a central openwork and four solid outer columns. There
are
many
variations,
human
of animals or
in the supports -
mainly
which may be
in the
form
and
The Golden
and the
seat,
though curved,
is
made up of three
It is
bells
and golden
effigies
of
One such effigy was said to have been a portrait of the slain
Adinkra of Gyaman who had copied the Golden Stool. The Asante
slain enemies.
king
went
to war,
down
melted
to
make
have been
mask
it
The
it
must never be
chair.
sat
is
may
a ring
some
in the
stool credible.
is
displayed on
own
its
26
his
own
ceremonial stool
made
for
him on
his
from incumbents
woman's personal
is
The
stool
stools of those
to successors.
intimately linked to
who were
office-holders in
27
)
will
him
life
life.
spirits, suicide
or her throughout
in the stool-room.
This
Through
147
102.
Mask. Asante. Ghana. Trophy from the treasury of King Kofi Kakari. Gold. 18
(7 ins).
Collection,
148
London.
cm
The Wallace
The Art
three
Ceremonial
no
is
chairs,
and
of
variations
all
a royal or chiefly
religious connotations.
state
of the Akan
regalia, carried
paraded and on
is
many
other
occasions.
variety
in total length,
weapons, a wooden
hilt
leaf.
The
may be
covered with
to state
swords were
sheath
Ornaments attached
traditionally
is
Subsequently
such ornaments took on bizarre forms such as birds with cannons, cartridge belts or even teapots, demonstrating the inventiveness of the artists
influenced by acculturation.
Many
proverbs or metaphors. 28
The use
shown
[103],
was already
is
in the
Danish Kunstkammer
its
in
A painting by A.
Eckhout executed
King of Denmark
in 1654, represents a
man from
in
to the
the
is
A
is
much
and
longer, with
hilts).
absence of the actual sword of state. 29 \^e must also mention the beautiful
ornate hats worn by richly costumed swordbearers. 30
Ornaments made
in disc
'
3I
They were
originally
'soul-
appointed to perform the ceremony of purifying the chief's soul, but were
later also
chiefs.
attached to
many ceremonial
state purposes.
Senegal
officials,
and
is
stools,
for ritual or
silver
work regarded
32
33
The motif was probably copied from objects bought from Muslim
and used as charms. The disc with a simple cruciform design
shown here [104] may precede the more ornate Islamic-inspired badges.
eye'.
traders
149
'/-~l
wt
103.
courtesy
iron,
wood, ray
8.
Recorded
79
cm
The Art
104.
of the Akan
Soul-washer's badge. Asante. Ghana. Taken from King Kofi Kakari's bedroom by Lt
Annesley
in 1874.
Gold. 8.8
cm (3.46 ins).
Collection
It is also
it
same
in the
in the
treasury.)
The
and
results
Officials
wearing such
staffs
at the courts
in legal work.
34
staffs,
gold-covered
of the
ambassadors,
Their symbol of
very ornate
misleading
staffs' is
staff'.
These
finials
is
all
from the
151
used by chiefs
northern
in
Ghana
as
symbols of
authority. 35 Early staffs were single canes with gold or silver handles,
and
the custom dates back to the seventeenth century in the coastal areas. 36
State umbrellas used by kings and chiefs for ceremonial purposes were
said to have
and velvet
silks
staffs,
silver
They
finials,
finials,
all
illustrating
were
popular
first illustrated
by
38
Miiller in 1673.
African
observed them in ancient Mali, and their use might well have spread there
40
The
may
also
be of northern
inspiration. Parts of
Western Sudanic
Dress was
42
kingdoms.
under Asante
at
medieval
societies of Akan
by kings and
courts.
at
rule,
its
robes worn
They were of
price.
shoulder exactly
like a
Roman
toga.'
That
which
is
very stately in
have
style'.
44
These chronicles
are of pre-
Asante time, and the cloth used for the cloaks described by Braun
have been imported.
The
first definite
may
the purchase by
cloth,
This
art
was used
in
may be
Benin
46
of narrow looms for the production of strip fabrics in the area of the Niger
made
even
earlier.
47
locally out
of beaten bark.
It
it),
cloth
its
152
was
The
in the
cloaks, blankets
and
The Art
105.
Umbrella
finial.
tailored
ins).
of the Akan
Museum.
Women
worked
wider vertical treadleless loom on which fabrics for family use only were
woven.
There were
men. The
earliest
was made of
strips with
produced by Akan
woven
chiefs.
The
finest
crafts-
153
and some were ornamented with embroidery. The third type consists of
appliqued or embroidered fabrics, called akunitan, or 'cloths of the
great' [106].
These
are usually
applique technique
may
made by Bowdich
specimen.
War
in 1819.
hats,
49
some
first
The
beautiful of the
was
is
a specially fine
The most
48
batakari,
Akan heddle
outfit.
pulleys, veritable
works of art,
Ghanaian
wwmmwm
106.
Embroidered cotton
cloth.
Baule.
Ivory
Coast.
The Art
of the
Akan
|!f Hull
107.
War
shirt, {batakart)
cm
(43 ins).
National
Museum
Museum
of Denmark.
leather, bells
and
of Denmark, collected by a
museum
1850. Photo:
and the
earliest
is
as ancient
here [108] are two examples from the bewildering variety of rings, necklaces, bracelets,
'
museums and
Body and
facial scarification
have
now
all
in writings
but disappeared
among
the
Talisman, worn by chiefs around upper arm, and bracelet. Asante. Ghana. Leather
156
Akan
54
108.
in the possession of
foil;
bracelet gold.
Werner Forman.
Talisman
8.5
cm
(3.35 ins).
The
109
{left).
Goldweight
Volkerkunde, Leipzig,
in
shape of
MAF
Museum
Museum
Museum
cm
(1.8 ins).
end we always
Museum
fur
fur Volkerkunde.
fan.
say: If
Length
5.7
cm
(said the
fur Volkerkunde.
56
As gold played
still
a leading role in
became
is
now of diminished
Akan
implements
for
importance,
many
Akan women.
Before that trade developed, the currency used by the Akan consisted of
iron discs.
When
part of everybody's
kit,
The
first
North
Africa,
and from
this the
word
The
carob
'carat' is derived.
the beginning,
is
called kirat in
weights were also in circulation, and a variety were found in the area of
Begho; 57 these,
In the
field
too,
were
common
in
157
'Who
else
first
Brass.
Length 4.8
cm
all
his quills?'
the courage of their warriors: 'Asanti warriors are like the quills of a porcupine - thousands
Museum
among
fall).'
Museum
fur Volkerkunde.
10,
1 1
1].
The
are
figur-
of the
'direct'
models
methods
59
fruit,
wax
casting method,
introduced from North Africa via the West Sudanic traders. Both geometric and figurative weights were used from the beginning (assumed to
be
c.
The
great
158
its
origins in
Western
Egyptian and
in
late
Roman
classes
The
the okiya and the rotl and later the Portuguese and the troy ounce were
Akan metal
produced
Akan weight
a table to
and
tolerances,
to
be unacceptable tolerances
the
112.
British
1.8
cm
(4.65 ins).
Museum
of Mankind,
Museum.
159
113.
From Attabubu,
Kumasi
in
Museum
(8 ins).
north of
of Mankind, London,
Museum.
it is
based
system. 6S
Many, though
were made
of
certainly not
all,
erbs,
new
differ
to illustrate
from group
life
66, 67
to group.
all
Akan but
number of proverbs,
sections of the
Garrard 68 quotes
human
stools, shields
and knots.
very large proportion of Akan gold was spent on the import of brass
vessels
and manillas of brass and copper. 69 The larger vessels were often
many were
beaten
flat
and
forowa [112],
160
a lidded
for
The
114.
cloth).
(The shape of
this type
have been based on the design of the old English ewer of the time of Richard
taken from the palace of Kumasi in 1896 as booty and
Museum
is
now
in the
of kuduo
II,
may
which was
Department of Medieval
Museum.
l6l
115.
seizing an antelope;
at
body with
162
1903-17.
On
the lid
is a
casting of a leopard
cm
(14
ins).
Museum.
The Art
of the Akan
by the
lost
valuables,
it
serves
many
in soul-washing, female
like the
forowa,
it is
puberty
rites
70, 7I
used to hold
Forowa are mainly based on European forms, but some of the decorations
show Islamic
which
influence,
vessels.
is
Those with
form of
birds,
domed
lid,
and
some on three
Those with decorations in the
flared
figures - single, in
twentieth centuries.
In dealing with the art history of the
considering a civilization
when
still
very
much
Akan we have
alive.
We
the advantage of
from Igbo-Ukwu
163
TEN
known
have been
to
work
in Africa,
which
In the
Nok
Lower Niger
But
this
in archaeological
is
culture.
far in
West
Igbo-
Africa.
Ukwu
officer
when
the Federal
man
to the administrative
Shaw
after the
Jonah
Shaw's reports 3
(in
Thurstan
respectively.
The
as
Museum.
in 1959/60, that
compound of
called Isaiah
for
someone who
may
to
have
a
at
found. These
now presumed
relatively shallow
is
himself interred about a metre further down. His remains, a skull and
parts of the skeleton,
regalia
skull
all
on
decorated in the
for legs
itself.
is,
a stafftop
With the
rider,
many
items of
hilt
of a flywhisk finely
a third of the
164
large,
columns
appears crude by
is
composition typical of
much
western
African
art.
The
face
An
is
Ife terracotta
down
in parallel lines
Igbo-Ukwu
(ichi)
title
are
[117].
this
Numerous
and
made of bone,
ivory
(including three whole tusks), iron, pottery and beads of cornelian were
discovered.
body of
From
this
it
it
at the
at
wealth of
bronzes, pottery and other objects. These had been assembled in what
116.
Bronze
National
skull of a leopard
Museum,
on
copper rod.
From Igbo
cm (9.53 ins).
Museums and Monuments,
Richard. 24.2
165
117. Miniature
pendant representing
human
cm
(3 ins).
National
some
Ife facial
Museum,
Lagos.
building which
treasure.
which consists of a
form of a waterpot,
set
Armstrong 6 saw,
made up of a
in the orchestra of
on
a finely
[i 18].
this vessel
There
was made.
mouth with
a flat
The
pitch,
in the
River areas, while there are roped pots, and pot decorations simulating
ropes, at the Odinani
Museum
in
Nri
from Igbo-
Ukwu. Extensive research at the British Museum has revealed that the
Igbo-Ukwu bronze vessel was built up from several parts. The rim
section, the lower part of the stand,
separately.
is
it
cast
and the base. The lower knots of the rope were bent inwards, while the
metal was
poured
still
hot, to bring
it
However,
it is
not clear
how
artists
be
difficult to find,
the
anywhere
in the
it
would
this
roped
vessel.
later,
a large
ial
vessels
pit
found by Shaw.
The
levels
in four dates
century A.D. and one from the fifteenth century. In spite of a controversy
is
One
results, 8,
I0, !I
9
-
'
I2, I3
must
this possibility
is
a crack
examined
between the
pits
in great detail
by
167
118. Vessel
National
on
a stand,
Museum,
with ropework.
From Igbo
cm (12.7 ins).
Museums and Monuments,
raw materials
- originate;
The
mainly copper,
tin,
for?
the north by
it
at Azelik
and Marandet
is
the Islamic north earlier than the eleventh century, and hence the dating
Igbo-Ukwu
finds
who were by
equipped with
that time
camels and ferried West African gold (from ancient Ghana) across the
desert'.
By
these means, they could well have reached the borders of the
the time.
and
much
likely
There was
I9, 20
earlier
22
is
Ivory and
demand
Mediterranean
in India,
coast in
The
much
17
Roman and
Byzantine times.
It
interrupted by
the invading Arabs but was soon revived by them. Cola nuts were perhaps
also exported
The Igbo
at least as far
back as
and ceremonial objects found may, therefore, have been connected with
the Eze Nri; though the elaborate burial
of a non-hereditary
title,
the structure of the society at the time that the artefacts were made,
was
later revived,
it
The
is
strong today.
aspects of
all
Ukwu are their style and iconography, totally unlike those of the sculpture
and
artefacts
castings
120],
found
made
at Ife or
in the lost
Benin.
The
delicate, filigree-like
work of the
art.
shape
made
with styles of the Yoruba and the Igala to the west; with Ikom and
169
Bamileke to the
east;
to the north. 24
The
'Sao'
Igbo-Ukwu
decorations.
The Igbo-Ukwu
style
may
The
fact that
no
in the
immediate
traces of a metal-casting
found
phenomenon,
must
19.
surmounted by
a spotted
animal
(?
leopard);
170
120.
Bowl
in
shape of a calabash with handle and delicate spiral and rope decorations.
Museum,
cm
Width 9.4cm
(5.47 ins).
(3.78 ms).
made over
graphic
now
affinities
Igbo-Ukwu
stylistic
and icono-
excavations, and
Awka and
Abiriba. 25
The
finds
it is
itin-
were
171
121.
legs.
George Ortiz
exist,
art
Formerly
and should
in future
be treated separately
The
cm
lost
wax, a
technique no longer practised in the region of the Lower Niger Delta and
the Cross River. Represented are
some
in the
form of anthropomorphic
realistic; in others,
figures or heads,
122].
in
must have
quantities
were
These,
Igbo-Ukwu
have a
material, with
stylistic
share also single and reversed spiral as well as cordage motifs. In fact this
comparison and
common
cannot be doubted.
Some were
As many
hammered
(or Ekoi).
Other
castings, twisted
Bells,
many without
clappers,
outnumber
other copper alloy castings in the region and were surveyed and
classified
172
32
'Sao' culture.
Ejagham
its
33
to Benin-influenced castings,
122.
Human
River.
The
style
Museum,
Lower Cross
River; the
at Ikot
Musee Barbier
Miiller,
Enyong Ibibio
some Igbo-Ukwu
also seen in
area of the
cm
(10
ins).
173
123.
Three
bells.
area,
Middle: 15.5
nostrils.
cm
cm
cm
(6.1 ins).
to the
Igbo-Ukwu corpus of
Cameroon
grasslands,
Adamawa and
35,
settled for a very long time,
36
some
earliest
objects are
'at least
recorded dating
is
and use
in shrines
in actual ritual
site at
Oron. 37
The
traditional
A.D. 1827
+ 14 respectively. 38
However,
174
if
12 and
Igbo-Ukwu
culture
is
taken to
its
124.
area, judging
by
Ukwu. Bronze.
style
16
cm
must go back
to
is
about A.D.iooo.
Masks fashioned
in terracotta
and unearthed
at
Ke
in the
Niger Delta
Wood
carving
is
of great
artistic excellence,
therefore of
were found
is
in
[126].
Made
They
are in a style
which has no
175
125.
Anthropomorphic
arms and
176
cm
(?);
with fine
Benue
River).
two
Commission
for
staffs;
Wood. 109 cm
Lagos. Photo:
Andre Held.
177
in the area,
40
But the
the Akwanshi stone figures [128].
41
that of Eket
These
42
skilfully
Oron
them
first
is
idiosyncratic, a certain
to
many
style
number have
House
the Rest
Museum. The
at
But 666
Oron and
figures
in
in
tragic chapter in
modern Nigerian
Some are believed to have been stolen and subsequently sold overseas, many to have been used as firewood by soldiers and refugees. When
the rebuilt museum was opened in 1976, only 116 figures could be traced,
and some of these are now on exhibition at Oron, Lagos, Jos and Kaduna.
peared.
whose powerful
summoned
call
is
style of the
M'bembe
is
quite
to four metres,
to attend
also reputed to
slit
in
in
altars
The drums
on which human
to
sacrifices
are
were
one
45
in the Berlin
Museum
about 400
drums,
to
at that time.
drum, according
46
500 years old'
is
now
The
to the
africana,
in 1907,
may
well
believed to be exaggerated.
wood of Afzeha
Yolkerkunde, collected
fur
to
is
The
against the grain of the timber. This gives the powerful figures the
monumentality.
The Ejagham
or Ekoi
Cross River and the south-eastern boundary of Nigeria, spilling over into
Cameroon,
is
still
further east.
They speak
.78
started. In a section of
Ejagham land
are
127.
Commemorative
figure of chief,
cm
a giant
drum. M'bembe.
179
"0*#^
<f
128.
and one
fallen, in phallic
chiefs.
cm
spiral
field).
They were
now
more than
in internecine
unrelated to the Ejagham. 47 In this restricted area - less than 400 square
miles -
many
Nta and
Nselle,
two of the
five
communities, and
be of Ekoi origin.
ment
in
first
this
mostly arranged in
180
Some were
circles,
total
of 295
phallic,
and they
all
represent men,
many
is
carved over a period of 300 years ending at the turn of the century. 49
The
figures.
may be
and
Some have
Decorations and
related to
circles,
facial
Ejagham and
The Ejagham
in
This type of
or,
indeed, anywhere
to
the Ibo and Ibibio to the west and north-west; to the Keaka, Anyang,
masks
is
The
use of these
slain
53
enemy. 52,
skin,
in collections.
Some
of the older
54
human
Most of
those in
museum
collections are not older than the nineteenth century, and the age of the
tradition
and
is
initiation ceremonies,
by associations whose
human
To
sacrifices
but they
activities are
among
restricted to funeral
in ancient times
largest
was
and head-hunting. 55
182
their use
many
whose
art has
been surveyed
The
ELEVEN
The Yoruba
people,
numbering some 12
Most of them
live in
south-west
Togo.
It
that the
years.
in
As
from the
to their origin,
we have only
thousand
came
east'.
immigrants or itinerant
artists
Upper Niger,
from waves of
new
in the
technologies.
Yoruba
sculpture.
no proof of such
outside influences
may have
socio-political
and
but
own
supported
The Yoruba have been city dwellers since very early times, and founded
urban centres of great importance and power, possibly as long as 1,000
years ago.
Some
capital at Ile-Ife,
who was
founded according
sent by Olorun,
to legend
'God of the
Yoruba myth of creation made Ife the heart of Yoruba kingship and the
seat of the Oni, who was the religious head of all Yoruba people. His
powers derived from his direct descent from Odudua. Although many
other Yoruba city states claim to have been founded by a son of Odudua,
none achieved the eminence of Ile-Ife.
still
We
prolific carvers
ago)
still
art until
West Africa, of a
(and whose present
Nok
Owo
The
183
and
their
segment of African
art.
The
Yoruba
sub-Saharan western
art discovered in
- and, in fact,
of black
The
city has
made
in
and re-buried
It
for safety
might
radiocarbon testing that the city was occupied from the sixth century
may
who
on several
is
theories,
require adjustments. 2
also expressed
is
by Wai Audah,
The
question
is
terracotta objects,
in any way be
number of bronze and
who produced
of the highest
the small
artistic quality.
European documents
beginnings by
less
all
accomplished
a bronze-casting industry
first
mentioned
in the
was
artists
in
No signs of
nor are
arts.
The
appear to have attached any great importance to these works. They were
placed in shrines, sometimes of nineteenth-century origin, divorced from
the ancient
example of
important of
all
shrines of
Fagg quotes an
first
created from the primeval ocean, the priests preserve one famous
relic
it
is
to
Odudua
long
after bead-making had disappeared and the function of the crucible had
been forgotten.
The
people of Ife were forced to leave the town and surrounding area
scholar of
Ife
Yoruba
history,
who maintained
that
...
it is
possible that
Ryder quotes an early'the present town of Ilethe old Ile-Ife was much
distant past.
184
more
9.
The Upper
Volta,
area.
The
site
development of the
key
role,
city state
nevertheless retained
it
Yoruba
its
When
for the
whose
states,
power base
king.
its
Odudua
many Yoruba kings
myth sanctioned
and, above
all,
Oni
Benin. Ife was also engaged in foreign trade with the neighbouring
countries and with northern Africa. It
is
this, says
from the
art,
Oni
Greece
sight that
first
Europeans had of
One
tion of ancient
The
a gift
by the
stools.
Museum in 1896, 9
British Museum is
Lagos.
in
The one
in the
is
is
stone,
These
from
Ife,
hard but
brittle
may have
for that'.
was through
Ife art
in the
Guinea Coast
area.
They
served as thrones for the 'divine' Oni, whose feet were not
worked
figures
in granite,
stomachs, dressed in garments reaching almost to the ankles, with decorative tassels
on the
side;
heavy beads.
- called the
Idena
and
The
its
Guennol
in the
been
in the British
is
almost 90 centimetres
Leo Frobenius,
wood
tall,
work known
Collection,
Museum
occurred, however, in
The
head
pher,
is
The
is
to the outside
New
world
is
a terracotta
that
186
130.
cm (1
131.
Brass. Nailholes.
The
facial striations.
188
From Wunmonije.
rings around the neck (on this and other heads) are
24
cm
(9.45 ins).
Museum
still
considered
of Ife Antiquities.
come
from North
in the
grove of Olokun, the Yoruba goddess of the sea, and Frobenius was
Poseidon.
fact,
12
Frobenius, that these beautiful objects could not be African but must
like
Romans
it
Yemoo, where
considered to be
among
They
are
now
took seven terracotta pieces to Berlin but was forced to leave the 'Olokun'
head behind. That head was supposed to have been safely deposited
the Oni's palace together with
all
visit to
art.
now
Museum
Museum
for treatment, he
all
and
that this
his
in
But during
modern sand
cast.
The
fate
traditional lost
wax technique,
remains unknown.
During
-building
works
in the
Wunmonije compound
adjacent to the
four
third Oni,
that this
who
is
corroborated.
It is
now
in the palace;
He
also stated
Museum
[132].
The
treasure-trove found by
workmen
his
The
face
The couple are wearing their crowns, ankle-length robes, and many beads
and other adornments. The Oni's left leg is twisted round the right leg
of his queen (in an anatomically impossible fashion), and their arms
189
132.
Mask. Said
hairline
and
to represent
190
cm
(1 1.6 ins).
133.
in
Statue of an Oni in
full regalia:
collar
From
Ita
Brass. 47.1
IQI
134.
wound around
in full regalia.
Museum
From
Ita
left leg is
cm
Museums and
Brass. 28.57
192
The
are interlocked.
is
Further finds
at Ita
Yemoo
is
technically
all
15
high, of a
and the
legs,
bowl atop
round
column with
The queen
human head on
top:
maces, one with a gag in the mouth, were found in the same excavation
[135].
most
I6
These
staffs, like
artistically
brows and
delicately indicated
in Ife
faces,
furrowed
larger heads.
among
art,
depicts an old
man; although
with idealized features. This kind of realism can also be observed in two
terracotta heads,
unknown
site.
'bronze' figure, one of the greatest Ife sculptures [136], was dis-
Nupe
village called
Ife. It
was seated
figures,
in a
of which
seven were at Tada and two at Jebba (one of the latter was stolen in the
1970s from the island); the remaining eight are
Lagos.
They
now
all
in the
museum
at
- accord-
ing to legend - been brought from Idah, the capital of the Igala people,
by Tsoede,
a prince reputed to
the actual origin for eight of these sculptures has not yet been determined,
the seated figure from
most
naturalistic of
all
rigidity
and
is
to
legs, also
due
feature.
The
much
life.
frontality of
unusual in African
art,
though
who
this
Tada
figure
was
cast of
is
tin,
difficulties, as
ing, as the
is
it
was patched
in a
is
not surpris-
is
technically a
most
difficult enterprise.
193
135.
Two
staffs
cm
194
cm
gag).
(10
From
ins).
Ita
Museum
Ife Antiquities.
136.
style.
Wrap
tucked between
legs;
of right leg missing; pitted surface caused by ceremonial scouring with gravel.
Late
cm
(21. 14 ins).
National
Museum,
From Tada.
Lagos. Courtesy
95
These 'bronzes'
(the term
is
used collectively in
book
this
for bronze,
may
it
still
The
the
Lajuwa head,
ruled
many
ever since
terracotta
after a
It
and
head
was
the bronzes
in style.
and some
'expressionistic' in style
is
called
generations ago.
said to have
been kept
who
in the palace
it
artist.
in the tradition
working
num-
usurper
should have a memorial in the palace; and besides, as traces of earth were
dug up
recently. It
it is
more
likely to
at
as
a head.
There
a
tas. It
was
at
Land of
altar.
contemporary use,
fact
20
a ritual vessel
actually prove
that naturalistic
This
figures.
However,
be used
does not
this
figures, to
and abstract
was corroborated by
at that time.
in 1953,
Odudua
at
terracotta sculpture
material,
i.e.
College,
produced
sites
at
Odo Ogbe
is
at
mostly
Ekpo Eyo,
artefacts,
report on excavations
made by
all
21
though credible
this claim,
in his
maintains that
for a
Yemoo, 22 which
some of
Myers on
yielded
Eyo recovered
a lovely classical
head
at
at
Lafogido
'lids',
were sunk
[140].
196
made by Garlake
in 1971
and 1972
at
Obalara's
Land and
137.
Head
said to represent
Oni's Palace,
quities.
Ife.
cm
(12.9 ins).
Museum
of Ife Anti-
Courtesy National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Lagos. Photo: Andre
Held.
197
138.
Abstract representation of
Terracotta. 16
cm
(6.3 ms).
98
human
Museum
head, cylindrical.
From
Head of a queen (broken off from a figure), wearing a crown of five tiers; a crest broken
mark (compare with [47], Nok). From Ita Yemoo. 12th- 13th century.
Terracotta. 25 cm (9.84 ins). Museum of Ife Antiquities. Courtesy National Commission
for Museums and Monuments, Lagos. Photo: Andre Held.
139.
199
140.
royal crest.
Held.
200
ceremonies installing
is
said to
a chief. Potlid
12.5 cm (4.92 ins). Museum of Ife AntiquiMuseums and Monuments, Lagos. Photo: Andre
The
modern Yoruba
at
Woye
The
ritual vessel
relief a classical
terracotta sculpture
it,
in
features.
heads; several classical heads, with both striated and smooth sur-
istic'
figures, standing
of the
last
23
on
a plinth
in close prox-
He
showed
centuries.
The
Land,
at
A.D. 1190 + 85
well-preserved pavement,
was
to
1470
The
+ 95,
to the fifteenth
made of potsherds
set
on edge
in the
ground
and
in
altars
from Chad
to
Togo, 25,
26
and are
Pavements
Ife,
but the
27
Asiri,
28
but
altars,
As
it is
Woye
it is
not
the heads - and other objects found in context - were from 'second-
primary purpose
sented
is
certainly not
apparent.
size -
may have
served for the attachment of real crowns [130]. 29 All heads have holes in
their necks - in
possible that
burials.
Such ceremonies
are not
uncommon
in Africa,
may
would allow
money
for
enough
to the
a portrait of the
201
Owo,
France; and in
the use of a
wooden
effigy
ceremony
burial'
The
- called
figures of
commemorative
ceremonies
in
There
no
is
in a 'second
a royal
couple
may be
ako
The
which human
sacrifices
were made. 32
Nor
is
the types of striations, from fine lines to heavy raised weals [141]. Regarding the latter, Willett was told by Sir Adesoji Aderemi, the
that
it
Oni of
Ife,
used to be the custom of the royal family to paint their faces with
Suppose
festivals.
33
On
new hypothesis
me
the
to the
Ife
(or
It is
we
are unlikely
ever to learn the explanation of it - to suppose that one of the two families
(or
This provides
major
first
is
circular -
also provides
it
about ancient
and
Ife,
The
Wunmonije
lips are
attempt
at
Ife; or, as
an explanation, 35 they
Yemoo
striated.
may
all
figure of an
Oni from
Ita
may
depict royalty.
The
some
raised weals,
Owo
terracottas
and on Igbo
Ukwu
Ukwu
to
mark human
bronzes. While
linking either of
we have no
Owo
faces in
customs
justification for
could be tribal markings, but those on the Ife sculptures do not resemble
'cat's
may
202
in the case
as
is
evident
141.
18.5
Head of man with raised weals. From Inwinrin Grove. 12th- 15th century. Terracotta.
cm (7.28 ins). Museum of Ife Antiquities. Courtesy National Commission for Museums
203
142.
'cat's whiskers'.
204
12.5
Broken
From Grove of
Museum, Lagos.
off a figure.
cm (4.9 ins).
National
production
36,
eval Islamic sources.
try
was
The
37
In
Ife, solid
found by Frobenius
first
many
with glass in
made of glass
beads
in
in 1910, in the
Olokun
grove. 38 Willett found glass beads from both sources during his excavations,
and
these, dated
by radiocarbon, showed
results varying
39
In Garlake's excavation at
ninth to the twelfth centuries.
from the
Woye
Asiri,
than that -
The
those found in
Igbo-Ukwu
remains un-
known.
Ife
is
the sacred
Ore
grove in which two granite figures, the Idena and the Ore, stand. 41 In
another clearing, surrounded by
column over
peregun
tall
Opa Oranmiyan
trees, stands a
first
carved granite
- the staff of
significance to
it.
The
'staff' is
Oranmi-
called
iron
is
Opa Ogun,
in
ground, the
total height
would be 6 metres. At
a distance of about 75
42
much more
Ife;
is
group of
Ife proper.
drawn from
its
zone and
producing nations
cases, earlier.
this
survey of information on
in the
at the
art-
Technical and
stylistic similarities
at
between
Ife
and Nok
in the
show a
their
way
to
Jebba and
The
'classical'
period of Ife
is
When
probably
is
Though
was pure
was
Ife.
205
'I
143.
cm
Museums and
(4.72 ins).
National
had become
a military
in
importance and
Owo,
the
'
Tsoede'
and
lies
and Benin
M.
city.
According
to folklore
Ife
son of the mythical Odudua, in about A.D. 1200. Because of the impenetrable forests and
swamps
with Benin must go through Owo. This geographical factor and the
Kaduna^
/
kaqara
Jos
Josm
Vlattau
Nabuja-
Jemaa
tfW
lOrdOyo)
\ Taruga
.Norm
Esie^\
fl
.Ovo
Wukari
(NfewOyo)
He -Ife*
^
.Katsiria
Abeokuta
.Ijcbu-Ode
^U9*
10.
Nigeria: the
IJEBU
Yoruba and
AJa
EK
Udo
/
Benin C
their neighbours.
207
144-
Museum,
208
Owo. Wood.
that
Owo's
art,
now
Oni of
Ife
its
own, was
Wood
horns, used by
used on Edo
Owo
altars in
human heads
with rams'
city of Benin.
47
suggest that contacts had existed between the cities for a long time.
Owo
objects
Fragment of small
statue of (?)
later)
in
were attributed
striations.
to
Benin by
Owo. From Igbo 'Laja. Early 15th century. Terracotta. 9.2 cm (3.6 ins). National
Museum, Lagos. Courtesy National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Lagos.
Photo: Andre Held.
tableau.
209
'
on
own
its
first
time that
Anthropological Institute in 1949, 48, 49 and the larger exhibition, 'Traditional Art
became clear
that here
was
in 195
a strong
In
in architecture
Fragment of
The
Commission
for
art style,
influences go
cm
beyond sculpture
regalia.
known
as
Igbo
to tradition, the
Owo
at the site
on which, according
it
though showing
210
146.
in
independent
first settled,
terracotta sculptures
[145, 146, 147, 148].
(king's) palace.
were discovered
in
A number of important
later generations
a shrine
and re-
used long after the making of such pottery figures had ceased.
These sculptures,
too,
demonstrate the
from
147.
stylistic
relationship with both Ife and Benin, but they are also proof of Owo's
ical)
vital
art
either.
Fragment from
linking
more
ritual pot.
The
mouth
cm (4.25
ins).
National
Museum,
From
Lagos. Courtesy
211
The radiocarbon
implies that
Ife,
Benin and
Owo
produced
art in the
same time
slot,
to
first
ivories
212
its
[1
ivory
since
50].
50
to
148
(left).
Head and
cm
in
Museum,
(top) a
'Laja.
?);
frowning
15th century.
shown depicts
From Igbo
The
panel
the back, representing wings; (bottom) an elephant head, looking upwards, and four trunks
Two
Mankind
The
respectively.
Museum
and the
shell inlay.
Museum of
21cm
Height
London.
213
150.
Two
Owo
Museum
cm
Kunstkammer
records
first
of Denmark, Copenhagen
EDC
Museum
of
Denmark.
in the
The most
wing bird
singular symbol of
[149].
art.
Another
is
mysterious snake-
Owo
iconography
is
figures,
the legs
Benin ivory
bells,
one of them
in
Owo
in the British
Museum. 51 Such
Benin or used
objects
for local
ceremonies.
Fraser 52 states that the snake-wing bird has sinuous upper limbs, which
-
sometimes
in
it
He
Benin
214
in
- are
i.e.
Yoruba
by the
own
151.
century. Ivory. 15
W.J. Moore.
cm
One
William
J.
Owo
origin. 16th
limbs (self-dompting)
is
known
human-headed
'a
wings'. 53
The
and
Owo
some
latter
style
snake-
illustrated here
is
may
a ritual ivory
is
by
made
for
54
specifically - for their Ifa, or divination cult.
outstanding example
was given
The
more
art.
Yoruba
in Africa only in
a
sword. 55
An
Benin
Another
Owo.
The
and iconography
specific style
to the re-attribution to
a bronze stool
in the
Owo
face',
also led
Thus
Museum, 56
means
town have
known only on
On
a 'grinning ape-like
is
Owo,
a logical conclu-
sion.
The
Owo
study of
some rethinking on
had been
collected),
The
castings.
listed
the
Tsoede
objects grouped by
stylistically
Of the
is
now
scholars have, in recent times, attempted to link the others with various
art styles.
Thompson 58
city,
sixteenth century (Oyo-Ile was rebuilt and finally sacked by the Fulani in
Thompson
links the
it
How-
cannot be taken
with the Islamic jihad at the beginning of the nineteenth century and
guesses that the Gara figure, 'found at
Tada
in
southern
Nupe on
the
59
Niger, was perhaps looted from the nearby imperial capital of Oyo-Ile'.
He
end of the
classic period
arts
60
final
destruction of
posts',
silk
of the remains of a furnace and the conclusion that brass could have been
cast at Oyo-Ile.
While
all
216
this
all
is
152.
Detail of the
Gara
plaque depicting horned head, Benin scarifications on forehead, snakes issuing from nostrils,
'chainmail' cloak with snake-wing birds and pectoral with rafn's head. Probably
Owo. From
Tada. Early 14th- 15th century. Bronze. 115.5cm (45.47 ins). National Museum, Lagos.
Courtesy National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Lagos. Photo: Andre Held.
Bowman,
153-
clad
in
slatted
some Esie
Ukwu
pendant
figures
[117]).
and IgboQuiver on
Jebba
century.
ins).
Early
From
14th- 15th
cm
(36.22
Museum,
Lagos.
Bronze.
National
Courtesy
for
Probably Owo.
Island.
National
92
Commission
new
Tada and Jebba
He
with Oyo-Ile.
at
in the heart
of the trade zone between Yorubaland and North Africa, 'marking per-
haps important
toll
conjectures that
when
the
Nupe conquered
the
The
Tada
like several
and
figure
Ife castings;
rare in Nigeria'.
62
figure,
Some
tin
bronze,
'a
composition very
by
local
art historians
artists
manufacture, for
all
of Owo.
He
also wears
this,
Museum
- depicting
Gara has
because of
legs.
Lower Niger
The head
is
number
its
- classified as
[152] has a
an arch-shaped pectoral
of the
on which
horned head with Benin marks and snakes issuing from the
from
seated
Bronze
pure copper,
nostrils
Owo. 64
The bowman
facial striations,
wears a forehead
medallion with a snake-wing bird fixed to a crown. These two figures are
among
the largest bronze casts in Africa, and Idah - which had for long
works of such
found
there.
size, since
The
centimetres high,
now
stolen)
now been
the
Gara
as of
itself,
attributed to
figure
the female
and the
Owo origin.
Fraser
nude (114
present state of our knowledge, the place of origin for the Gara group of
the
reliefs [154]
66
as almost certainly of
Owo
origin,
and
is
the 'Hunter', the bronze head, several other objects in the British
Museum, and
the 'Kneeling
Woman
all
of
Owo
68
219
154.
bell.
Probably
Owo. 15th century. Bronze. 21 cm (8.27 ins). National Museum, Lagos. Courtesy National
Commission for Museums and Monuments, Lagos. Photo: Andre Held.
He
relics'
kingship'
among
the
Nupe and
the Igala.
71
in the 'ritual
This attribution
is
of
yet one
155.
33
cm (13 ins).
Entwistle.
Metropolitan
72
to the 'Lower Niger Bronze
Benin, had been reassigned by Sieber
Industry'. It should
The
now be
ascribed to
Owo.
Benin and
Ife,
Owo
Ijebu-Ode) developed their bronze industries and technologies independently - and perhaps contemporaneously. But
Owo
emerges
as
may
it
that
produced corroboration
finds have
wide
may be
Ewe,
religion,
by language. 73
by
political
of the Fon,
group of peoples,
Yoruba by
home
and
social
region at that time, and local tradition says that the Aja
from
came
west in Togoland.
to the area
Two
princes
struggled for succession in Allada, and in 1625 the defeated prince retreated north-west to the
Abomey
kingdom, Danhomey,
Dahomey. He and
absolute
later
monarchy with
a stratified society in
new
which merit,
loyalty
an
and
unquestioning service to the king rather than birth and kinship were the
conditions for advancement. There were no secret societies in the highly
centralized kingdom.
The Dahomeans
shared
many
Yoruba, whose Eshu (or Elegba) was the Dahomean Legba, while
Ogun
became Gun. The Lisa of Dahomey described by Burton as the sun god
was represented by a chameleon 74 and was derived from the Yoruba
orisha, but the snake cult originated in Whydah and became specifically
Dahomean. The creator god himself made Aido-Hwedo, the serpent who
lies
up in the sea supporting the earth and is fed with iron bars by
monkeys of the ocean. If ever the supply of iron is exhausted, the
coiled
the red
serpent will collapse; and that, the legend says, will be the end of the
world. However, there seem to be two Aido-Hwedo: one lives in the sea,
Aido-Hwedo
is
is
the rainbow,
who
is
followed in
importance by Da, the snake which deals with the problems of the
individual and the dynamics of
222
its
movement,
flexibility
and fortune. 75
Dahomey, sensing
Allada, started
life:
the
first
weaknesses
in the
coastal nations
the slave
stirred
up
conflict
building up
its
power, the
first
Oyo
still
kingdom
pay
tribute. In
Dahomean
women soldiers whom the EuroDahomey then conquered Allada and Whydah.
wars with Oyo and Abeokuta, Dahomey continued
became
under
its
rulers
French colony
until
it
in 1894.
in the
aggrandizement of the
of rich splendour
office.
The
display
impress the people with the power of the king and the
elite; it
to
climaxed
at
court cases were heard and death sentences were executed. 76, 77 Art was the mortar that cemented the carefully built structure
celebrated,
its
culture of the Fon, and developed from the birth of the nation and
Graphic
art
painting on temples and the walls of important buildings. For the pro-
artists
These
fabrics,
locally
made of applique
cloth
for
mark of
But
in
223
156.
Applique cloth
evil spirits.
Held.
224
in vivid colours.
Andre
Dahomey
brellas
The
lions,
royal
um-
in battle.
81
The
some-
times designed by the king himself and the patterns sewn on cloth dyed
in a variety
82
'dark green velvet bordered with yellow and scarlet'.
back to the
earliest
days of the
- are descrip-
of a great
highly placed families, they were mainly containers for presents sent as
love-tokens by
men
to the
women
of their choice.
suitor's feelings
and
The
proverbs depicted
offer of marriage.
iron,
moulded
used
in bas-reliefs.
As
in
carvings
worn
as talismans
bochie:*
some, anthropomorphic
its
made to them,
with the blood of poultry poured into the same orifices. The blood of
ducks was used for black magic, when injury to an enemy was intended.
provided in the head and the navel, and sacrifices were
Legba and the legendary wives of gods were other objects for
They were naturalistic - mainly nude - made for personal
or family religious use, and generally of little artistic distinction. Some Fa
cups and wands used by diviners, similar to Yoruba agere-ifa bowls and
divination tappers, are, however, exceptionally well designed and
Statues of
wood
carvings.
carved. 86
Wood
carvings
made
of King Glele, depicted with a lion's head, and that of King Gbehanzin,
shown
art.
87
as a shark
Typical for
metal sheeting
figure of a
and ivory;
a lion,
225
157. Lion.
From
the treasure of
cm (17.72 ins).
Andre Held.
after a victory:
teeth.'
'I
am
who
cult of the
first
thunder
god. 89
The
it,
the
were imported
in ancient
90
226
which each
artist
used his
own
special dies.
91
Two
remarkable sculptures of Gu, the god of war and iron, are well
known. One
entirely
- in the
made of iron
Musee de l'Homme
in Paris -
is
crowned
figure
92
riveted to an iron base plate,
it
made of
found objects. The other image of Gu, made of riveted copper sheet [159],
in the collection of Charles Ratton in Paris; holding a ceremonial sword
is
in
each hand,
it is
in a naturalistic vein in
commemorate
first.
certain
men
hoeing,
women pounding
158.
royal lion. 53
cm
(20.87 * ns )-
Wooden
Dahomean
Musee de l'Homme,
Paris. Photo:
and
art.
Andre Held.
227
59.
228
cm (40.
5 ins).
and placed
They
in shrines
Yoruba
The
made of
Many had
or allegorical scenes,
The
bas-reliefs
all
Dahomey,
court art of
devoted to ancestors.
related to the
in iron or sculpted in
Yoruba and
succeeding the vigorous tribal art of the Fon, as shown by some bochie,
produced an
like the
Gu
and king
Dahomean
figures.
The
people of the town of Esie in the Ilorin province of Nigeria are part
of the Igbomina sub-group of the Yoruba and are believed to have settled
in their present place
Frobenius, again
first in
Twenty-two years
the
field,
at Offa.
later, a
94
figures,
in a
grove of peregun
figures in Africa.
They were
an octagonal hut
in the grove,
cult
later
of stone
to
be the focus of a
festival in the
grove, invoking the help of the images for the general well-being and
fertility
in 1965, after
building, the
altar.
of these
festivities
life-size.
Most
The
to a
was held
museum
Oba and
his atten-
and
few of the
connected
the figure of an
95
from 20
the Igbirra.
last
dants displayed on an
The
The
to 120 centimetres,
are seated
pillar,
on
resembling stools
common among
Many have
facial
ears;
marks, consis-
some
are depicted
facial striations
arrows for hunting, the women, cutlasses which might have been used
for the
hunt or
97
in
All figures
229
160
(left).
Museum,
Commission
for
161.
Andre Held.
230
Esie, Nigeria.
show
number of
were discovered
near Esie in the villages of Ofaro and Ijara, the latter somewhat different
in style.
98
Some
differ.
state that
they were found abandoned in the bush at the end of the eighteenth
it
that strangers
harm
to
from
came
Ife
to the outskirts of
damage
There
By
hostile intruders
men
still
the
were
blamed
for
Ife'.
are also noteworthy in the elaborate hairstyles, the use of incision for
found
in the
in 1974,
and though the reading of about A.D. 1100 was considered inconclusive,
Shaw
human
head, stolen
cular, a
100
'reasonable'.
is
size
and differing
stylistically
parti-
from other
Esie heads has been singled out for comparison with Ife's late classical
Another
period.
'
a large
'
is
south-east
of Esie.
and 'cotton
Ife.
is
Those who
arguments
believe in a
also
Dahomean
since
no
women
soldiers
muskets
like
male
were used
soldiers.
lacks conviction,
made not
later
I02
while
04
231
The Oyo/Yoruba
images.
Dahomean
Supporters of a
great
power
carvings.
women
This
chiefs.
type.
This
refers to king's
messengers
Tegbesu.
He
captivity,
Oyo
institutions, including
The members of the corps had one side of their heads shaved, as
mark of office. 105 Stevens believes that 'the trail will eventually lead
Old Oyo' and that geology and archaeology will supply the proof. 106
'Ilari'.
their
to
The
its
Ogun
is
reason
is
carving
easier in situ.
is
be
likely to
108
and
The
itself.
and
storing,
another pointer,
is
if
Oyo-Ile
the
is
presumed
The
origin.
strength of that great city state was the development of its cavalry, which
was decisive
in the
are included
among
may imply
carved before the introduction of the horse in that area, some time in the
sixteenth century. Oyo-Ile was situated at a strategic crossroads, a meeting
place of
many
cultures,
the city as a trading centre. Its art would, therefore, not have been of a
city state,
who
left
Oyo-Ile
at that
time
is
may have
The
brought to
new
place,
in the sixteenth
They had
Ife,
Nupe
attackers
city
of the migrants.
is
considered as a possibility.
still
10
They once
Nupe must
Very
little is
also be
known about
their
art since they were forcibly converted to Islam in about 1830. Tribal
in a
about
232
six
masks,
now
in
museums
visit to
Mokwa
in Berlin,
'
l12
He collected
Hamburg and Basle;
in 191 0.
fine
Museum. Wood
is
in the
ably also used as mirror cases or containers for amulets. Their intricate
Egyptian
art.
113
Nubian or
artists,
influenced by
Islamic designs.
Although figurative
be outstanding craftsmen
pottery, 115
in
Nupe
continued to
Nubia,
suitable
or
Egypt
raw material.
come 'from
- to settle
It is possible that
at Bida, just
organized in guilds.
the east' -
Byzantium,
anywhere
in the
162.
else in
spots.
is
Bracelet. Bida,
and red
The
known
at
Bida
I21
Karin Wieckhorst.
ilgW^
The embossed and chased
Nupe coppersmiths of
The Leipzig
Bida [163] have been known and admired for a long time.
hammered "bronze"
vessels
were buried
He
in the fifteenth
233
163.
24.5
Lidded
cm
vessel
(9.65 ins).
gold to the
Museum
fiir
cm
the
hammered and chased brass sheet objects, artefacts were also cast in the
lost wax process, as was the hilt shown here [164, 165]. 123 There are no
Bida
Yoruba Art
in the
city states
which,
like
They elected their Obas (or kings), and in today's Nigeria there are still
a number of such kingdoms linked by tradition to the Oni of Ife. Their
political power is now very limited'. But their importance in matters of
religion
234
164, 165.
hilt
in
it,
and
flat
blade;
sheath and guard of hammered brass sheeting. Bida, Nupe. Nigeria. Overall length 44.5
(17.52 ins).
Museum
cm
*//
235
creation,
is
and
Ife,
discernible [166].
Nok
Nok
figures
is
The
art
may have
influenced
are
No
textile
garments
124
clothing, possibly representing
are depicted; but in one case at least,
fibre cords
leather,
is
Bwari figure
The
Ife
a similar
The
legs [136].
full
Oni [133] and the small figure in Ife style found in Benin
[180] both show the abundant use of beads and other ornaments, and
early fashions from which Yoruba dress developed. Oyo-Ile, and subsequently Iseyin, south-west of the Oyo kingdom, became the principal
centres of narrow-strip weaving. Later, the advent of Islam and the
figure of an
166.
clenched
fist
236
cm
all
in raised relief.
from
nostrils, a
Pace Gallery,
New
York.
167.
Museum
Andre Held.
237
168.
Museum,
of
Ode
in traditional style.
238
II
cm
Yoruba. Part of
(52.36
ins).
National
Lagos.
169.
Twin
Two
male
figures (ere
figures,
ibeji).
in
style
beaded cape. 27
cm
Europeans inspired new designs and colours. This mingling produced the
splendid garments and headscarves of the
even
this
women.
Men
overshadowed
The
woven on men's
Hausa fabrics, which are basically
but the Yoruba used a greater variety of colours.
These
are similar to
for dress
to antiquity in Africa
The
use of beads
availability of
European
uniform
sizes
and
in
an entirely novel Yoruba art of bead work [168] based on their ancient
traditions.
ibeji
many
for
garments of
staffs, diviners'
ere
bags, and
239
We
know
little
which withstood the ravages of time and climate. The splendid house and
villages, the wood frieze from Owo (Benin
Museum, 128 and the carved doors in the nine-
all
probably modelled
in the tradi-
The overall
style
and from
area,
artist to artist,
although body and head are in the usual African proportions. Faces have
heavy-lidded, bulging, globular eyes, and sensuous mouths with
parallel lips that
smile.
Under
do not meet
sometimes displaying
at the corners,
is
flat
a fixed
The Yoruba
a large forehead.
rounded limbs. The finish may be polished wood, paint or a mixture of both.
In order to understand the art objects,
it
is
produced
in
is
(spirits)
whom
for
art is
No
humans.
through an
made by
orisha, especially
Eshu, to
is
whom
sacrifices for
Olorun are
clan could have had their own, and every phase of life, birth, sickness and
death was related to an orisha. Altars and shrines are dedicated to the
orisha,
and
a great
with sacrifices or
Eshu
(or
as flutes
and knives,
is
The
counterpart of Eshu
is I fa,
standing for
it,
129
life.
fate,
tray, usually
with a head
The Ogboni
occasionally
still
is,
powerful [170].
in a
It
common
staff,
240
and
a chain [171].
organization.
The
in great secrecy,
is
usually
ritual
imple-
made of two
figures, a
170.
Female
figure
representing
ably
(41.75 ins).
National
cm
Museum,
241
171.
Two
edan Ogboni
Pace Gallery,
Shango
New
- the spirit
neolithic axeheads
in Africa)
staffs.
Yoruba.
Oyo
area.
Bronze. 28
cm
York.
all
is
represented by the
Of
great importance
among
is
the
ibeji
or twin cult.
The
high incidence of
the
242
is
its
vengeance
172.
retinue.
127
cm
By
Bamgboye
a warrior
Odo-Owa. Wood.
New
York.
threaten the parents. If both children die, two figures will have to be
provided. The ere ibep figures are among the best-known Yoruba carvings.
The Yoruba are one of the few peoples in West Africa to have such a cult,
The gelede
society
witchcraft. All
and
women
sonate females.
womanhood,
Men who
dance
just as
is
motherhood
the
is
its
imper-
sea,
are
The
173.
Face mask
for
Egungun
244
New
festival.
York.
centres),
also
is
in north-eastern
epa. It consists of a
Some
up
to 50 kilos.
174
{left).
Cephalomorphic
175.
New
bell.
Yoruba. Ijebu
area.
ins).
Photo:
York.
cm (6.18 ins).
Museums and Monuments,
Fagg, 28 July 1982; previously attributed to Benin). 16th century. Ivory. 15.7
National
Museum,
245
176.
York.
'^WSyjyw
246
area.
(22 ins). Milton Ratner family collection. Photo: courtesy Pace Gallery,
New
Lidded bowl.
Wood. 56 cm
Egungun
rites are
The
widespread
festival in
is
Those from the Oyo area are of dignified simplicity [173]. Those from
Abeokuta may feature hares' ears and teeth, and a drum above the
forehead, and are usually associated with hunters.
its
The
cult
said to have
is
The god
or use iron,
most
As Ogun
carvers.
is still
festival
who work
and wood-
of iron
those
all
for
Ogun
rituals,
the
sudden death
The
all
dangers, from
to stomach-ache.
style of
Yoruba ironwork
differs
a half
is
of that
Among them
cult.
These
made
curing afflictions of
form of
art
all
there
mounted on
and includes
staffs.
Some
of these
may
a
in
a traditional
wood
Then
staffs
for female
some of the
[175] evoke
finest
Yoruba
247
TWELVE
more
is
known about
the
of the city of Benin than about any other aspect of West African plastic
art
art.
tions,
now
in
many
art objects
museums and
for research, as
private collec-
do European
travellers'
The home
of the Bini
is
in the east
The
by Ibo
hot and
southwards towards
territory, reaching
humid
the dense
soil,
river
of the Bini were based on the fighting quality of their warriors, and
and the
The
city state.
Kwa
Edo
is
part
family of languages.
Yoruba had
the actual
is
man
earliest
inhabitants.
altars
Sky
the
to
whose
Benin
is
said
Kings of
by Chief Egharevba
of the twelfth
Yoruba
his
248
city state - to
who
is
He
Ile-Ife - a
Benin
177.
Equestrian figure.
The
- the
Art of the
Edo
City State
Fulani emirs; said to have represented visitors from the north to ancient Benin, a.d. 152575; collected
before
1897.
Bronze. 46.5
cm
(18.25 ins).
249
178.
artist.
Bini
mask
The
style originated
with the
cm
250
jo
Wood
Museum.
a Bini
with black
Photo:
Ken
Benin
Benin
about
in
- the
its
Oba. Instead,
and
clan;
new
it
was
their offspring,
first
ruler of the
man on
earth, sent
dynasty.
and
was
assump-
power by the Yoruba dynasty over the Edo city of Benin. The
dynasty persisted, and Eredia-Uwa was enthroned in 1979 as its thirtyeighth Oba. Other sons of Odudua were said to have been sent to form
tion of
also the
But Ryder
Ife
which now
founder of
common
He
ancestry.
between
exists
who had
He
points to
art
is,
Ryder notes that many Benin bronze figures depict 'Maltese' or 'Greek'
crosses, originating
from the
'interior
have been in Nupe-Igala country. They were worn around the neck, and
adorned have
figures thus
all
the
tified in
as of
in Ife iconography,
Ryder
asserts,
'cat's
are not
Nupe and
The
is
them
Muslim
known
are iden-
on that
visible
is
figure.
Museum
its
waist similar to a
apparently a mistake;
There
heads, one of
in the National
kers' [142].
at
Lagos, with
'cat's
whis-
southern
Nupe played
an important
role,
relations
and
its
Nupe
may have
at the
existed,
at
The power
of the divine
in the
though
the tradition of a
oral traditions,
Ryder concludes
reliability,
as the
it
Ryder con-
though neither
its
nature nor
its
chronology
is
known
present time. 8
251
fe
|W' 4
V
^#?
/
/ >
Held.
252
'
is
\3^
Figure of messenger with 'Maltese' cross and cat's whisker marks. Benin City court
179.
art.
#
mz
^
cm
(25 ins).
Museum
Benin
Documentation
scant on
is
all
- the
Edo
City State
we must,
therefore,
Art of the
Oba
in 1552, states
Ife,
successor was sent a brass cross, cap and staff by the 'Awgenni'
'.
his succession.
Ife
is
and the
(i.e.
The Ogiso are reputed to have initiated domestic crafts, wood and
sword ada dates back to them. 10 The
development of the
the
arts,
however,
ivory
great
is
at
fifty in
the palace
'symbolic parts') of the kings of Benin were sent to Ife for burial. In the
tradition of the Benin-Ife relationship, the
Oni of Ife,
memorial head
as spiritual 'father'
new
ruler a bronze
Oguola, the
Oba, 12
fifth
however, requested the Oni to send him a master of metal casting, so that
in future
Ife
in
Benin
itself.
He
ruler of
identified
The
first
vener-
is still
representing an Oni in
was excavated
in
The
Edo
new
dynasty.
When
the
wood 13
the
their
own
They
scarifications.
But the
styles of Ife
and Benin
heads are more naturalistic than in most other known West African
or Egyptian origin.
initially -
The Benin
and mistakenly
thought to be of Greek
somewhat
stylized naturalism.
Ife.
earliest
striations of faces
and holes
in the neck,
253
12.19cm
court
art.
(4.8 ins).
full regalia.
National
Stool. Seat in
Feet missing.
Museum, Benin
Found
in Benin.
City.
Courtesy
Vessel with drummer, snail and tortoise on both sides and handles in form of snakes
humans in mouths. Benin City court art. i6th-i7th century. Bronze. 22.5 cm (8.85 ins).
National Museum, Lagos. Courtesy National Commission for Museums and Monuments,
182.
with
may
may
or
all
unknown
Benin
in
art.
Benin
lost
Most Benin
may
point to
European sources of the material used. 16, I7 There were undoubtedly trading contacts between the city states, and these could have
different
led to the
melting down.
Werner and Willett suggest that old Ife castings in Benin were used to
augment local supplies, and Willett expresses the opinion that both Ife
and Benin imported metal from Europe. 18 The practice of mining and
smelting of copper in western Africa
were producing
in the sixth
is
at
half of the
first
first
Ukwu
but also
Ife
and
Benin. 1920
There
wax
human
figures, for
example, are
common
to
Owo, and
to
'Tsoede' bronzes.
chronology of Benin
Struck.
The
was
art
first
partly
and the
fact that
in 1705)
in
1686,
but Nyendael
in his
made
The
'Early
Period' in his theory lasted from the fifteenth century or before until the
mid
most
naturalistic
were copied
head
much
in later periods,
in the style
later types,
and
However,
and Willett
fall
least
mid seven-
of the city in
decorated heads
early forms
cites a late
and
styles
eighteenth-century
and
it is
and
to
another
Ben-Amos
in Willett's article.
24
refers
She points
out that both are effigies of enemies of Benin taken in battle or killed
256
Benin
183.
49.9
- the
cm
(19.65 ins).
Museum
art.
257
'1
184.
Head,
art.
For similar
terracotta head
from
c.
258
12.
Museum,
21cm
see Paula
(8.27 ins).
Ben-Amos,
Benin
- the
leading a rebellion, and concludes that these are 'trophy' heads and not,
as usually classified, ancestral
2 s 26 27
she also quotes oral traditions.
-
certain
styles
Whether
The
orial
and early
is
corroborated by future
earliest castings
this
were thin-walled,
ancestral
mem-
successor.
The
and
perhaps also of the scarcity of the raw material. Apart from these com-
Osun[i85], em-
Odudua masquerade
[186],
[187].
masks
The
four
from an
The
earlier date.
and
in weight;
later,
make
From 1550
The
greater
more
suitable as bases for the large carved ivory tusks inserted into or placed
uncommon
illustrated
they are one of the best sources for reconstructing the history of Benin
art.
Some
depict traders with their staffs and the brass manillas used as
fish
many
types of
floral
It
is
possible that
with four petals, almost identical with that widely found on Benin
plaques,
is
also
Plaques
figure
on
is
always com-
it
filled in typical
spired,
pass drawn,
Benin
style.
Although many
is
259
185
{left).
Head
for
Osun
cult.
186.
cm
(10.7 ins).
Museum
art.
tall
celts).
art.
Early 18th
cm
(22
ins).
National
frcm
nostrils.
Museum,
Lagos.
187.
Hip mask
in the
nails;
style, possibly
by
Owo artist,
c.
a.d. 1650.
circlets;
ins).
88.
man
to
head;
sent
said
47
cm
(18.5 ins).
Museum, Benin
Courtesy
Commission
for
National
Museums
Monuments, Lagos.
262
of
National
and
repre-
Height
City.
to
'messenger
the
death'.
art.
limbs attached
figure,
Benin
189.
Plaque depicting
Museum
(17.9 ms).
a leopard.
art.
- the
cm
ation or design as
relief,
extremely well
to the
Master of the Leopard Hunt. Some of the high-relief plaques give the
impression of being cast separately in the round, a demonstration of very
great skill in both modelling and casting.
Few,
if
Vienna
Museum 28
The two
dwarfs
in the
vitality
art,
and they
bells;
29
The
scenes depicted on
object
of the hand are called Ikegobo and, cast in bronze, are for the
Ezomo
Oba and
the
document.
I,
who
I's
one
general,
It
and so the
shows something
shows Akenzua
Oba Akenzua
oral tradition of
for
on the
commanding
historical
was made
are based
or the Oba's
becomes an important
in war; the
altar
it
to achieve victory;
263
^
A
190.
44
Aquamanile
cm
(17.3 ins).
casting itself
and the
it
art.
Mid
of the hand used by the Ishan, Urhobo, Ibo, Igala and Ijo
similarities
important cult
and
may
altars
shows many
in
Museum
is
it
'court' art of
Benin showed
in the 'Early'
qualities of design
in the
still
degenera-
show great
264
stylistic
'Middle Period'
and
vitality
to lose
City court
art.
Mid
on stand, perhaps
for
Commission
for
Queen Mother's
cm
Museum, Benin
Held.
265
The
the
moribund kingdom.
first
likely
by
and they
still
had
Oba Osemwede
(but
more
sterile realization
Bell in shape of a
266
nostrils.
Museum, Benin
City. Courtesy
Benin
Many
- the
Art of the
Edo
City State
when Fagg formulated his theory on Benin chronology. This applies also
number of heads, mostly found in the city, but too strong and vital to
be of its court art, though derived from it [193]. They are now believed to
have been made in the neighbouring town of Udo.
to a
193.
23
Head. Found
cm
(9 ins).
in
Museum
Udo
Village, 37 kilometres
267
194.
Kunstkammer
Museum
in
Copenhagen
in 1689. Ivory.
art.
16th
Diameter 10 cm
Museum
of Denmark,
Department of Ethnography.
samwan, responsible
high
artistic
for
wood and
guild, the
members of
made
the Igbe-
and technical standard right to the end. For that half of the
ivory reserved for the Oba's orders, there were rigidly dictated designs to
Some
of the most
outstanding ivory sculptures are the intricately carved tusks that were
placed on the memorial heads; hip masks; ivory sceptres of the sixteenth
to eighteenth centuries;
bells [194, 195].
of a
The
demands
freedom of design.
These
heads are
now
in
in
museums.
It
Some
fifty
such terracotta
by Ben-Amos, basing
268
Wooden
heads are
now used
Benin
195.
Ceremonial double
National
art.
bell.
16th cen-
cm (14.37 ms
Museum,
- the
)-
Lagos.
26Q
\-
by chiefs
is
no corroboration
too, dates
back to the
for this. 32
and
believed -
more
is
aspects of
scholars are
still
art
at variance,
270
alloy arte-
to
been demonstrated,
THIRTEEN
The Kongo
dense tropical
is
their
common
forest,
bounded by
inhabited an area,
Vili,
some
Kongo founded a state with the Mani Kongo as its head and
with Mbanza Kongo (later to be named Sao Salvador) as its capital. The
centuries the
kingdom
as allies or tribute-paying
neighbours.
When
the
first
the Zaire estuary, they reported to Lisbon that they had found a well-
Kongo
The
cultural
arrived,
and within
a year the
new
to Christianity.
first
all
and subsequently
to the
all
He
protested
first to
slave trade
Lisbon
and
its
in vain.
became the 'conquistador', and from his base at Loanda started his
fight against the Mbundu kingdom of Ndongo (in what is now northern
Angola) and their king or Ngola. The Ndongo were defeated, and Dias
used some of the Kongo vassals and the ferocious Jaga 3 (marauding
'pilferers' of mixed ethnic origin) to harass the Kongo. The conflict
escalated into full-scale war in 1660, and the Portuguese inflicted on the
nation,
271
o Sale
X Copper
500
km
kingdom of Kongo
all
it
never recovered.
kingdom had
lost its
By
power; and
arrival of the
Kongo
is
even
in
about 1470, 4 i.e. some twelve years before Diego Cao landed. On his
second voyage home, Cao is said to have taken coloured mats of woven
palm
fibres
These
ivories
in Pigafetta's description
Lopez. 5 In
from palm
Two raffia
Portugal.
of cloth
made
bells;
and
money.
tion date in
King of
Worms
is
plaited
272
from palm
Many
The Art
many
registered in the
National
the
Museum
Wiedemann
in 1881,
in
about 1650.
number
great
Collection in
Institute of Art. It
and carved
Ulm.
is
in relief
is
in the Detroit
of chiefs'
are in the
figures
in the Pigorini
origin.
which
is
human
decorated
textile designs. It is
Kongo
ivory
sculpting [197].
Much
Kongo
years.
196.
artefacts has
in recent
National
Kongo. Registered
in the
Length 57
108.
Photo: courtesy
273
197-
Two
chief's
31
cm
ier-Muller,
Muller.
on top of
Kongo.
(12.2 ins).
courtesy
274
figures
staff.
Ivory.
Musee Barb-
Geneva.
Musee
Photo:
Barbier-
The Art
An
Kongo and
The
sible.
who
earliest estimates
made by
by Alfonso
Verly,
His conclu-
in 15 14 against
Museo Nazionale
been collected
in the
Roman
in
Jesuit College.
The
Italian state
museums
including
revised.
On
may have
to
be
no bearing on the
actual dating of
the objects, though Vansina maintains that the cult goes back at least to
the
and
and kept
until death,
They were
not intended as
noblemen, often
in their lifetime,
showing the
roles
and character-
as well-
handsome and sitting tailor-fashion in asymmetric attitudes on a pedestal or kneeling; hands in a variety of gestures, with some carrying symbols
built,
of power; and
The
all
the caps in their various shapes led to discoveries of historical and arthistorical importance. 13
insignia',
14
Following previous
trails
and reports on
'royal
or the shrine in Cabinda in which they were said to have been kept. In
Musee de l'Homme
in Paris.
The
most important object among the sixteen items was the large dome-shaped
copper crown, the model for caps
many
still
worn by
chiefs. It
is
also depicted
stone or
was thus not an inherited authority but derived from election by the
which may have been a device of checks and balances. The social
chiefs,
is
very old, and according to oral tradition predates the arrival of the
Portuguese. Seemingly,
art
275
198.
Tumba
or ntadi.
Mboma
region,
Kongo. Steatite.
Werner Forman.
43.5
cm
(17.12 ins).
Musee Royal de
199- Tumba or ntadi. Maternity figure. Mboma region, Kongo. Steatite. 35.6cm
Tishman Collection, New York. Photo: courtesy Pace Gallery, New York.
(14 ins).
fully justified to
it
consider the thirteenth or fourteenth century as the date for the origin of
the regalia.
15
Van Geluwe
Woyo
only very few stone carvings originated in that part of Kongo, and she
worn
believes that the link of the 'crown' with the cap widely
Kongo
in
cannot be
in Volavka's hypothesis
ignored.
Not
all
drum-
An
important image
that of a mother,
is
the probably symbolic 'mother', wearing the chief's cap with the
em-
blematic four leopards' claws. Others are shown with different types of
ment
Some
hunter
or, in
gun
Other
bottles
in the
relief.
tailor.
The
17
known mintadi
originated
number of
Kongo
to
many
stone
different
less well
known than
The
first
comprehensive
in
or iconography.
mounted by
Most
country from
They were
Yombe
objects of Lower
in his report
are barrel-shaped
to
Congo
parts of
Kongo
in the years
1666-7) 20 of 'figures
made of
27 8
many
The deep
tops;
art,
seen in cemeteries in
'Voyage to Congo'
anthropomorphic decorations
seem
to
for
be ancient.
hollow.
Institut
Terracotta,
des Musees
among
'mummy'
mummy
is
cases in
wrapped
life-size, are
which the
for funeral.
These
and called niombo. The smaller cloth 'mannequins' of the Bwende are not
intended for burial, but are
made
to
279
Bembe
are also
The
The
Thompson
exhumed
after de-
and carried
to
next.
This gesture
is
on
his
way from
made
this
is
niombo
believed
world to the
The
said to be demonstrated
is
left
25
Upper part of seated male fetish figure. Bembe. Stanley Pool, Republic of Congo.
Wood, glass beads, eyes with porcelain inlay. 20 cm (8 ins). Indiana University Art Museum,
Bloomington. Photo: Werner Forman.
201.
280
202.
child.
Bau-
live in forest
in
ivory,
were
link
them with
The remarkable
Yombe
carved of wood in a
used
203.
in divination
Top of staff,
and are
Kongo. Brass. 28 cm
said to have
(1
been
fertility rites.
ins).
26
Musee Royal
Centrale.
The Art
one exception
a picture of the
and never
as elsewhere in Africa, a
is
is
becomes thereby,
The
at the infant.
relationship.
The headgear
is
either the
theme give
The
subject
is,
figure
The
rise to speculation
is
also
of Christian deriva-
number of Yombe
Kongo king-
dom
leading to tem-
stylistic influence
He
statues.
selected
common
stylistic
denominators, and called them the works of the 'Master of the RoselliLorenzini maternity' and the 'Master of the de Briey maternity', after the
name of the first collector of each type. Both groups of figures are
to have been by carvers of the
believed
27
late nineteenth or early twentieth century.
Metal crucifixes also appeared [203], but these became more and more
africanized and were absorbed into the indigenous culture, a process
known from
influences.
misuse of Christian icons for 'pagan' use, Islam was more tolerant and
acquiesced in syncretism.
women
are found
on
also a
staffs,
number
of male and female figures carved in wood, seated or kneeling, which are
believed to have served in
Kongo
ancestor cults.
They were
receptacles
and was
relied
on
for
aid.
Kongo
phenomenon of
embedded
less
menacing
in attitude.
Na moganga
They
which
come
can be
283
204.
Nail fetish,
Both
legs restored
collection.
284
nktst.
still
in Africa).
18
cm
The Art
used for
The
a variety
reports of an Englishman,
Andrew
whatever
nkisi,
Loango at the
book by Weeks 3 show that
Battel,
who
ambivalent. 29 30
is
visited
its
The
nkisi are
their creation.
will
body
is
now
attach a
- or fetish material -
a headdress in
in
medicine
add
its
in
The figure
box made of resin
poorly carved.
which medicine
is
may
not yet a
is
with
filled
He may
a mirror.
snake heads, carved figures, beads and vials around the neck and on
the arms of the figure, according to the purpose for which the fetish
is
being prepared. After the necessary rituals have been performed, the
nkisi is
formation
further trans-
European eye
wooden
statue
to non-Africans, will
its
attributes.
But
its
lies in
however impressive
a nkisi,
if it
power.
The importance
manifold functions of a
nkisi
but in
is
its
not only
historical
implication.
visit to
the
We can
thus assume with reasonable certainty that the nkisi cult and the
and possibly
earlier.
There
is
Yombe
country
at
in
is
martyrdom of the
The
driving
thought to have
saints
and the
crucifixion.
vassals of the
Kongo
known,
on
also
33
Mboma
is
and
obscure,
tribes
figures,
metric designs, could have had their inspiration in the ancient connection
with Kongo.
285
The
history and art of the peoples inhabiting the areas between the rivers
Kwilu and Kwango was dominated by two powerful political organizations: to the west, the kingdom of Kongo; and to the south-east, the
Angola
in
ties
with the Pende. Further east the Lunda, not an art-producing people
Jokwe
The
Pende,
art of the
Kwilu-Kwango
region,
like that
known
is
to us
nations,
is
to
Luba and
cultures.
The Kuba
art
In
fact,
are reputed
neighbours.
ancient
and the
crafts of the
the
Kuba
known
(generally
dynasty, 34
is
as
said to have
himself been taught the making of cloth from palm fibres and embroidery
his visit to
and credit
for passing
on
their
them
wife).
35
in the
Kasai (or
The same
it
may have
tribes that
36
lived.
Lunda. 37 This
is
Bastin
to
among
be
in Africa.
raffia pile
memory
Kuba
which
is still
some red
in use) or
perhaps be found
in the social
and
- in the case
of the
Kuba
many
arts,
- to
to
at the
time of the
Lunda
The movements
art styles in the
Kwilu-Kwango
Wood
carving
is
arguably as old in the eastern parts of Central Africa as in the west, where
that art
286
is
so well
The Art
(36.85 ins).
Suku.
Musee Royal de
Kwango
region,
Zaire.
93.6
cm
pigments. 39.4
cm
(15.5 ins).
region, Zaire.
Musee Royal de
Wood,
raffia,
palm-fibre, kaolin,
Werner
Forman.
oldest
African
wooden
sculpture
wood
originated
in
Angola
in
by Europeans
figures, in the
(or
Wieckmann
Museo Nazionale
about equal
39
[3].
Two
Kwango area,
in date
Collection in Ulm). 40
of acqui-
The two
Rome, were probably acquired in Lisbon between 1692 and 1695 by a Papal
envoy, and are thought to have been carved during the
first
half of the
come
Kwango
to the region
from Angola
by the
style of artists
in migrations dating
made
who had
de
la
la
China detto
Bamba Engo', believes that they originate from the region of Kina in the
Kwango area. 42 The head and coiffure of the figures have a strong affinity
with the style of the Ovimbundu of Angola, but the treatment of the
shoulders and the arms with hands on the chest resemble carvings by Suku,
288
207 (kft)- Door. Pende. Zaire. Wood, kaolin, pigments. 99 cm (39 ins). Acquired 1902 from
Leo Frobenius. Museum fur Volkerkunde, Hamburg. Photo: courtesy Museum fur
Volkerkunde.
208.
rings.
Male
435cm
Forman.
(17.12ms).
Musee Royal de
Zaire.
Wood,
iron neck-
Werner
Hungana
Kwango
tribal artists.
art.
and adjacent
this
historical
background of the
Towards
tribes
first
areas, archaeological
and nations
art-
in the region.
Central Africa to the region of the Great Lakes, and were instrumental in
the development of pastoral and agricultural economies in which posses-
Age
Lake Nyanza (Victoria) and at
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, the Kivu province of eastern
made along
pottery were
some
fifty sites in
the shores of
44, 45, 46
which the
first
fifth
not identical ware stems from the Wele region, from Ennedi and Darfur.
The Bantu-speakers
is
most probably
in a necropolis at
Sanga,
an area rich in copper. Important finds were made of fine pottery with
bevelled rims and horizontal groovings, together with iron tools, bracelets
of ivory and copper wire, necklaces of copper beads and ivory [210].
Large numbers of cruciform copper castings, possibly used as monetary
units,
were
form of crosses
Sanga graves.
It is
not
known
there
if
vessels
found
at
Sanga
is
is
used long
some pottery
castings.
Among
the pottery
On
Nenquin and
1970s
resulted in a revision of the age of the cultures, and readings vary from
A.D. 710
Drawn
65.
47 48
-
from Europeans.
290
when
It is
from
this area
Luba
country,
The Art
is
Musee Royal de
Vessel.
210.
From Mushenge,
ins).
Musee Royal de
l'Afrique Centrale.
1200. Terracotta.
Height 8.7
cm
291
that the
Kopje
in
at
though
Luba
culture,
it is
But
as
possible
Sanga people may have been the ancient ancestors of the Luba,
must be stressed that there is as yet no proof for such a theory.
it
Luba empire
is
to
A.D. iooo or
earlier,
and the
first
is
a large
From
the
many chiefdoms
in the
at the
end of the
Angola
in the north, to
its
in the south,
waters in the
east.
and
The
culture, in
to the shores of
spread of this
political
genius
numerous nations
in the
region.
kingdom
fered
from the
little
first.
The
third empire,
which appears
to
have
dif-
is
believed to have been created about A.D. 1700, and the great expansion
of
Kaniok
[211],
The Luba
greatly revered
Their outstanding
artistic
and admired
others.
their smiths
and sculptors.
Their
many
form
of great importance
patina,
and
in this
aesthetics.
They
initiation,
(mboko), chiefs'
staffs,
Luba
art.
of the
Hemba
and among
most
chieftain's seats,
and
delicate
Luba
masks were used, but those known are among the greatest
The
variety of
workshops
Hemba
styles
is
Few
in all Africa.
art,
impressive.
292
is
indeed
^^Kffissssr - ***
212.
Standing male
figure.
The Art
cm
(21.75
ms )-
Hemba.
Wood.
Private collection.
The Lunda live in southern Zaire, Angola and Zambia, and are believed
to
times'. 51
A number
kingdom, with
territories 'since
remote
This was
tribes in
who
left
that
kingdom
in
Luba
prince
queen Rweej, became the founder of the Lunda empire, the mwatayamvo.
295
r-
Jokwe
as their hero
association with
The
Luanda
state,
the
To
their north
with which the ndongo were so closely involved; to the south were
Ovimbundu; and
Jokwe-Lwena com-
as rain-
makers, and the power of their weather god, vested in their wooden
malunga
The
figures,
own
ritual
made of iron
their neighbours.
symbol
word
later derived.
and importance of
the metal - introduced in about the fourteenth century from the north by
the Samba, a tribe related to the Suku.
The
origin of the
had lived
Jokwe
is
in the centre of
Angola since the sixteenth century A.D. 53 Jokwe culture emerged, however, after the
Lunda conquest
when
known
when
the
Jokwe were
settled in Angola,
to
Jokwe
culture.
Representations of the
among
'heros
civilisateur
Jokwe
Chibinda
Jokwe expansion to lands between the Kwilu and the Kasai and areas
in Zambia started in about 1850 and was caused by economic factors,
mainly the search for ivory and rubber. By the end of the nineteenth
empire.
is
their
Kuba
Kongo
derived. Chiefs' chairs, which replaced stools, designs of combs and pipes,
296
musket and
Museu de
39cm
(15.35 ms).
215. Seated chief. Carved in three separate parts: upper part, lower part of
body and
cm
(19.25 ins).
298
Museu
rear
Wood. Eyes
de Antropologia da Univer-
The Art
stylistic
can be observed in the arts of the Pende, Mbagani, Kete and Kaniok. 55
The
among
the neighbours
who invaded
live
elements,
Lunda by
They
The
who
men
riding on oxen.
come from
like
the bush.
and because
it
greater
its
for travel in
The
Lunda
rule
and the
in a
interaction of
largely unexplored,
owing
artistic creativity
of the Jokwe
still
remains
absence of archaeological
Art
in the
Kuba Region
kingdom
is
Kuba and
related
Bushoong
as
southward migration that started 300 to 400 years ago is said to have been
The Luba-speaking Kete and
savanna, intersected by a
is
number of rivers
that provide
good
and rich
fishing,
and
on
history of the
Kuba
is
keeping of which
others
who must
myths of
is
The Kuba
are fascinated
history, the
creation,
by
and
in the
58
There
are several
man
299
l~-
the Kuba).
l'Afrique Centrale,
figures.
Mboom. The
first
prominently
Kuba
is
man
Kuba'
Musee Royal de
in the tradition of
is
Woot, and he
Next
to the gods,
is
figuring
and possibly
Though oral
Twa
Wood. Length 27 cm
Tervuren. Photo: Werner Forman.
Bushobbe
whom
their
masks
also derive.
it is,
of course,
with
is
at
among
whom
his journey
and gene-
through Zaire, he
Kuba,
latter
line of kings
300
and
The
elders told
him
The Art
appearance of a comet. These events were checked with British astronomical records and were confirmed as having occurred in 1680 and 1835
(Halley's comet) respectively.
With
Torday was
this corroboration,
culture in general.
Kuba by
he became king of
Woot, the
Shyaam was
'stealth
and gamble'.
He
credited with
many
a hierarchy
of
agricultural innovations;
cloth-making
raffia 'pile'
and
ruled as a divine
at the
He was
and notables.
first
(in
which
Pende
his
wives were reputedly involved); and with other techniques which, oral
tradition maintains, he learned
travels before
many
artistic
cellent
and
Shyaam was
work appears
his accession.
60
to
his extensive
Kuba
war
is
at the
informants. 61
Europeans
first visited
Kuba
American
him were most impressed
small country with only some
by the sophisticated
150,000 inhabitants:
civilization of this
its
system unique
Not only
after
life.
Torday
the objects
made
as being
in Africa; and,
above
its
king and court, but everyday possessions were well designed and richly
The crafts
of the sculptors
and smiths were highly regarded by the people and the court. Several
kings had the reputation of being master smiths themselves, and one of
is
fairly
art-historical study
Kuba
Know-
is still
London. As
available.
at
Hampton,
Virginia.
majority of the
art
wooden specimens
may precede
the
Age of Kings,
is
the
301
217
(left).
Throwing
knife. (?)
Kunstkammer, Copenhagen,
Museum
218.
Zaire. Iron. 45
of Denmark.
One
Etnografisch
date.
Kuba.
1775. National
Museum, Antwerp.
Though
(?)
cm
(7.68 ins).
Museum.
artists
used a
An
River and
Pende
is
origin.
Kunstkammer
An
in
Desmond
Clark on the
Kwango
Copenhagen
Kuba
first
first
in
There
is
63
and
iron figure of a dog in the Verwilghen Collection (Belgium),
302
The Art
would be
incorrect.
may be attributed
to the
Kuba
these figures have the typical hairline defining the triangular face
to
common
both nations.
219
(left).
Wood. 25.8 cm
Musee Royal de
Zaire.
Kuba.
(10.15 ins).
Musee Royal de
l'Afrique Centrale.
(15.67 ins). Formerly Ortiz Collection. Photo: courtesy Sotheby Parke Bernet
&
cm
Co.
303
There
a close relationship
is
and sculpture.
textile industry
Kuba
The
the
technique
may have come to Kuba from the Kwilu-Kwango area through the Pende,
cloth, though made on a loom and not embroidered, was
exported to Europe from the kingdom of Kongo [196], where it was first
and similar
mentioned
objects include
Europeans. 68
ornamented boxes
for jewels,
human
face.
pomorphic
[219];
Frobenius,
the
of palm trees, and every hut was decorated with beautifully designed
latticing.
Men
The Kuba
burials
and
iron, or
for
many
[220].
that certain
cloth, carved
copper blades
in snake-skin sheaths,
myth of Kuba
it is
believed
mbooy
[221], representing
early ones.
is
made of cowrie
The masks,
shells, skin
and
cloth,
is
bwoom
according
to folklore -
[223],
large,
bulging forehead
(or mosh'
is
made of
raffia
and painted
by rubbing
wooden pad on
304
is its
mbey a nyim. 69 The third royal mask, inspired by Woot's sister, is the ngady a mwash. 1 Q This
wood
in
They
are
The Art
221
{left).
(15.75 ins )-
Mwash a mbooy mask. Kuba. Zaire. Cloth, cowries, beads, feathers, fibre. 40 cm
Musee Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren. Photo: courtesy Musee Royal de
l'Afrique Centrale.
222.
Bwoom mask. Kuba. Zaire. Wood, copper sheeting, beads, cowries, cloth, paint. 40. cm
Musee Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren. Photo: courtesy Musee Royal de
1
(15.78 ins).
l'Afrique Centrale.
forces in
Kuba
society.
is
Shyaam. 71
Related nations like the Ndengese and Kete or neighbours like the
Bene Lulua and Mbagani [225] are well known for their beautiful carved
statues. The Kuba themselves are rightly famous for their royal figures,
macy over
The ndop
pri-
Kuba kingdom. 72
305
Musee Royal de
l'Afrique Centrale.
cm (1 1.5
ins).
Musee Royal
225.
Standing male
figure.
306
cm
(9.84 ins).
Musee
The Art
307
226.
55
Statue, ndop of
cm
(21.65 ms).
Museum.
Museum
The Art
and cowries on
cloth.
on ndop),
Height 23
cm
shioody.
(9.05 ins).
228
(right).
Royal ceremonial
knife.
Kuba. Kasai,
Length 33
cm
Kuba. Kasai,
terix febrifuga).
The
(ibol)
1'
Afrique Centrale.
hand
is
personal symbol
are
figure
Centrale.
and holds
Beads
Musee Royal de
(13 ins).
all
He
statues,
and displays
The
which
emblems
or ibol
personal
as a
human
symbol
head,
for the
up the
Shyaam
was peaceful,
as he
expresses
74
A drum
A human
life
and death. 75
309
so.
Vansina
lists
Some
whom
a list
of only
monarch, and
been made
generally
in the
discounted.
Rosenwald 79
all
drum
now
all
were
to
is
of Jean
conclusions
the
from Shyaam
The remaining
were carved
supports
Vansina 78
all
the others -
by one hand.
was made
They
kept in the capital until at least 1969, and the drums seen there
The Kuba
and
stratified society.
many media
reflected a well-organized
travel
and
trade influenced their style and techniques, while they in turn affected
the art of many nations around them.
3io
FOURTEEN
Eastern Africa
The
interior of Africa
was
largely isolated
from the
rest of the
world until
the
MediIndian Ocean
had attracted traders, migrants and invaders from very ancient times. The
character of these populations and of their art differed substantially from
that of the hinterland.
On
direction twice a year, facilitated navigation for trade with areas in the
The
The
number of commodities involved
winds were
less favourable.
are well described in The Periplus ofthe Erythraean Sea, the log
first
book said
to
The major
Aksum and
The
nearer
all
mentioned
rice
and
in the Periplus.
Christian Ethiopia
ancient state of
Aksum, with
its
now known
as Ethiopia.
The
in the
fifth
and sixrh
emigrating 3 over a long period to the highlands of Tigre and were well
established there by that date.
a Semitic language
3ii
2.
Upper Nile
Valley.
in the
many
finds
and
religions.
Towards
first
millennium
B.C., language and images changed (the language turning from Sabaean
to Ge'ez, the forerunner of
Adua,
is
temple
at
Yeha, near
It
The
made
Aksum
Saba. 4
There
are
many
east Ethiopia,
fine
in ruins.
all
over north-
crypts,
palaces and family dwellings built of dressed stone, timber and masonry.
312
Eastern Africa
One
or rectangular layout.
it
villa
is
at
of a noble-
229.
National
Museum
inscriptions.
From Aksum,
Ethiopia,
1500
c.
B.C.
Stone.
stelae.
Many
tomb
huge monolithic
The
erect,
were carved
to represent multi-storeyed
tallest
high and depicts on one side nine storeys, complete with fake windows,
The
largest
example
still
erect
is
20 metres
high [232].
During excavations
were recorded,
mapped by
the Deutsche-
Aksum
were located
south-east.
in the
There
combs were
Gudit
are
is
area.
When
standing, they
no radiocarbon dates
now
field.
further hundred
all
faced south/
approximate
large
313
mm
mmlrk
230.
prayer for
statue.
Statue
fertility.
It is
Eastern Africa
23 1
c.
still
erect, at
Aksum,
Ethiopia.
About 20
m (66
ft).
'the
at the site
stela.
The
storeyed stelae are believed to be symbolic houses, and those with representations of timber
One monument,
main
stelae
group
symbolic house,
is
beams
called the
at the
'Tomb
Mai Hejja
and
also considered to be a
The tombs
316
it
contained
appears that
Eastern Africa
'pagan' interment customs did not vanish with the advent of Christianity. 9
objects, beads
'
other
large-scale
233.
art.
'
influ-
Other
arte-
in the
at
Gondar, Ethiopia,
built
by
geometric patterns or with plants, birds and snakes in black and red
terracotta.
There
fertility
statues.
Many
kings.
Red Sea
rise
of
nation,
trade,
3i7
aft
318
D.W.
Phillipson.
Eastern Africa
235.
cm
cm
14cm
in the Periplus
and
was the
first
in
religion,
Ethiopia
except for the short period of Italian rule from 1936 to 1941.
Many
fine
churches were
Aksumite temples. Of
built, often
these, the
on the
sites
of Aksumite or pre-
at
Debre-Damo
One
of the best
still
known
is
admired
the
at
Lalibela.
3i9
Gondar
stand [234].
mostly worked in
of the Ethiopian
silver,
13
artistic heritage.
to recent times,
Ethiopian eras
all
must have
in all three
and
part
produced impor-
origin,
is
14
Meroe, there
its
is
no
Aksumite neigh-
were predom-
inantly with Greece, Egypt, Arabia and the Far East. Christian Ethiopia
from
this intercourse
all
the
assimilated by the people of Ethiopia who, both along the coast and in the
hinterland, were deeply rooted in Africa.
The impact
of the contacts with the Arabian peninsula and the Far East,
Mozambique, hardly
graphical, ethnological
all
The
people
The
all
the
way from
who have
it
Lake
and nomadic
cattle herders,
salt,
metals, Indian
were
settled agriculturists.
must be remembered that in the west too, there are many areas
figures or masks were produced. But there, as well as east of the
Lakes, the African artistic genius was expressed by music and dance and
such easily moveable items of visual art as basketry, pottery, calabash
It
where no
The
traditions
320
5
'
The
oldest
example
Eastern Africa
16
The
vessel
is
burial site,
and there
were
the
13.
in
left in
is
The Njoro
and pendants.
Eastern Africa.
321
L.S.B. Leakey
date).
Wooden,
Photo: courtesy
at
now
in
elaborately decorated.
Roy
c.
1000
B.C. (single
M.D. and
radiocarbon
Sieber.
reliable guide to
ware
- or, as
it
was
Age
initially called,
in the region
Urewe
was
first
discovered around the shores of Lake Victoria (now Lake Nyanza), and
earliest
322
its
production of
it
to date
Mweru and
Tanganyika.
back to the
last
south-
centuries of the
Age
culture
first
now
Eastern Africa
appears
likely.
although there
is
is
Kwale ware
Mozambique and
originating in
20, 2I
a 'definite connection'
also
like the
found
also
in
who expanded
During excavations on
on Lake Nyanza, Uganda, a remarkable terra-
They appear to
The style is not
[237].
found
art object
in eastern Africa.
But unless
W&40
-^~*~^.
mmmmmsi^0f:
saggsi-
Fig. 2.
Urewe
-___,.-
Ip
crrv
Owen and
Leakey, 'Dimple-based
Museum,
2,
Nairobi,
1948.
this
is
in this region
may
artist -
which
is
doubtful -
unknown
it
culture
of Africa.
made. Sculpture
bottles,
Duruma
leather,
in
ceremonial
wood was
staffs
and
restricted
a very
also
23
found
few masks
Some
like those
carved by the
made of
west and among
The Maasai
warriors
323
Museum
From
woman,
set
cm
Museum.
(8 ins).
Eastern Africa
la
im*
M
f
238
(left).
figure: 207
cm
239.
Memorial
New
York.
post.
cm
19th century.
Wood.
Left
cm
renowned
are especially
swords and
Over
shields.
narrow
for the
24
ing south into Tanzania, are the Mijikenda with their largest sub-group,
wooden memorial
posts in anthropo-
Kenya's sculptural
art [238].
sticks.
are
tri-
The
may
also be
mouth
carved on
Some
it.
Kambe and
southern
known of
early
coastal nations
in their
mentioned
in
Nothing
is
known about
an old tradition,
was only
it
in
26
Though
first
they
may be
recorded by a
missionary. But the fact that memorial posts of a similar nature are
in several other areas
it
more
known
also have
live
to their dead,
of these, and
in the case
are great,
and
Mijikenda,
it
all
as
[239].
27
But
no records
as
first
may be assumed
exist of contacts
to the Swahili
The
chip-
burial practices
its
prompted Sieber
use are related to
Near
East'.
29
326
Eastern Africa
and Burundi
courts had
little
societies.
Their
Buildings, clothing and regalia were simple, and few figurative carvings
are
known from
these kingdoms.
There
are,
however,
few isolated
chief of the
is
Kerewe carved on
like the
the island by a
It is
'Nyamwese'
sculptor.
There
240.
Female
figure.
Nyamwese.
Wood.
74.5
collection,
cm
1900.
&
Co.
39cm
(15.5 ms).
human
Depth 44.5cm
figures.
paint.
Height
Forman.
Was
there an old carving tradition which has vanished; and were the
objects destroyed by climate and termites? Or. are these few exceptions
the
work of visiting
artists or
The
many
Twenty
Museum
objects,
in Stuttgart.
the
now
in a
museum in Karagwe.
them
Linden
officers
Museum
who
collected the
is
known from
eastern or western Africa, and the origin of these iron figures remains
obscure.
328
Eastern Africa
Nyamwese, including
and
Hehe pose
The
shown here
[240].
same question:
These
33
and developed
the
relics
the
a recognizable style
Zaramo and
the
on which
Makonde
[241].
by Luba
Tabwa and
west of the
Others
(left).
century
243.
(?).
Photo: courtesy
D.W.
Kenya
coast, south of
30 kilometres south-west of
5th- 1 6th
at
Mwell,
Somalia border.
Phillipson.
cm (43- 2 ms Museum
)-
Museum.
>
329
Horn of
among
Africa to
800 on the islands and from A.D. 1100 to 1200 on the mainland, contributed decisively to the creation of a homogeneous culture and a unifying
language, Swahili - predominantly Bantu in vocabulary and grammar,
some
Dar-es-Salaam,
like the
culture 'Arab'
244
{left).
is
To
label the
incorrect.
Carved door. Swahili. Lamu, Kenya. 19th century. Wood. Photo: courtesy
I)
\Y
Phillipson.
245.
Mihrab of mosque.
ins).
Photo: courtesy
D.W.
(?)
Phillipson.
Eastern Africa
Height 27
Some
cm
Tana
Of these Lamu,
ins)
river,
settled
some
metal.
is still
Wood,
Udo Horstmann.
Lamu
and customs, not only of medieval but also of more ancient times. 34
The
up from the
bottom of the sea or gathered from the shore, along with some rock
quarried on the mainland. Blocks were estimated to weigh up to one ton,
old buildings were constructed of coral rock brought
larger than
arrival of the
and building
in
Lamu
[244,
coast,
the beautiful carved doors and chests [246], for which the artisans of the
island of Zanzibar
became
ances
But
local
33i
cloth -
presumably cotton
areas ruled by the Shirazy dynasty. Later printed cotton fabrics are
to
The
island cities
The
ruins of Kilwa,
all
known
in
by Persians
in ruins,
in the tenth
century
almost certainly the palace of the Kilwa Sultan, several mosques, and two
forts
The
large island of
Mozambique,
coast of
complex.
It is
a separate case
and
is
Indonesians, Arabs and Bantu from the mainland, but the predominant
artistic
247.
(22.44
ins).
Female: 45
cm
posts.
is
clearly Indonesian.
Sakalava,
Madagascar.
Wood. Male:
^
!
^^
^Cj
*!?*%
?^Ek
*
-*
"wiRPI^^
'
^*-
57
cm
Asselberghs.
'
Archaeo-
;**&E&^M
^i&
^^5?*
2*S>
?
^QH
^JK
jQiC.
''
Eastern Africa
first
introduced into the island, and pottery found in context differs from
Madagascar
is
Bornean
at a
are the
dialects,
40
in
and Arabic
The two-dimensional
be due to
common
Swahili influ-
Silver, brass or
be seen in
memorial
post.
cm (30.12 ins).
Collec-
FIFTEEN
the walls of rock shelters and caves, has been discussed in Chapter
Their age
is still
largely
2.
Age
Their originators, the San, never became truly part of the Iron Age. They
civilization;
and
ments
Over
the
still
built
to
by food-producing and
2> 3
recognized by
its
pointed base.
The
still
It
southern Cape.
several areas,
era.
in the
known
to
activities at Melville
5c
in
Kopje
first
datings
showed
that probably
still
area. It has
is
fact, so
made by
'it
is
An
Lydenburg
334
In 1956
art
Dr K.L. von
Bezing,
Southern Africa.
14.
shell,
items
site
terracotta
Further examination
his finds,
at
incomplete, but five small ones were restored at the university; the pieces
department.
site
and
in 1975,
in adjacent areas.
The
first
radiocarbon
197
and showed
a reading of
May
A.D. 490
+ 50.
In a subsequent report by
in eastern
Lydenburg
The second
test
of
material from the site of the heads resulted in a dating of A.D. 540, so
that a date of about
A.D. 520
is
site
and
335
The heads
Cape Town
now on
are
Museum in
common with
They have
motifs in
South African domestic pottery of the Early Iron Age culture: herringbone patterns, hatching
hatching.
The
in bands, panels
and
and
gritty
triangles, oblique
and resembles
and cross-
in fabric
and
ears, eyes -
in texture.
some of the
tion,
added by the
incised, or
method of construc-
Of the
seven heads, two are about 380 millimetres high and the others
The
size
of No. 2
is
given as
'large',
based on the diameter of the rim at the neck opening, but the sherds for
this
curving
all
have
on the side of the forehead, running downwards to end between the eyes.
In the case of the animal snouted head, the line runs
down
Other raised
lines
faces. It
assumed
some of these
tions,
that
to the nose.
could be
ulative.
The purpose
for
this unlikely.
The
as
makes
purpose. These small heads each have two holes of about 5 millimetres
diametrically opposed near the bottom rim, and these might have served
for the
with initiation
in various parts
South African
solid, are
sites that
mentioned.
The
Age
sculpture,
Tugela Basin
336
size
site in
the
The
Many
recent
249-
38
cm
250.
lion).
South African
Museum and
3.
c.
University of Cape
made
in
Museum
21cm
Town.
terracotta sculpture
Age cultures,
is
much
The
Nguni
been determined.
The
presence of
people, including the Swazi and the Zulu, was reported by ship-
337
251.
338
snout.
Museum
7.
Terracotta. 24
cm
252.
South African
Museum
4.
c.
500
a.d. Terracotta.
20
cm
wrecked Portuguese
Wood. Height 48 cm
cm
at the
end of the
fifteenth century.
actually reached
mostly San and Khoi, but they also intermarried with them and elements
of Khoisan were incorporated in the Zulu language. At the beginning of
the nineteenth century Shaka, a
founded
Zulu
He became an
state
based on
Nguni
chief, organized
territorial rather
an army and
men were
339
254-
Thomas
Bailey,
and
in
England
example of the
65
cm
tion,
London.
255.
View of
at
Wood, bead
eyes.
Private
collec-
the Conical
Tower
(25.5 ins).
Cheze-Brown,
in
Peter Garlake,
much
There
later date, to
is
as yet
Among
arts
and
a continuation
art
alike.
produced by the
of an ancient culture of
wooden sculptures
Further north,
in the area
340
century and the sixteenth, brought about mainly by the east coast trade
in gold
in
other
Nubia,
unknown
in the rest
of sub-Saharan Africa.
first
occupied in the fourth century A.D. and was abandoned by Early Iron
Age people at an unknown date. The entire region was resettled by Iron
Age people coming probably from the west, presumably the Shona. They
34i
-.iV;:i^-;; A'A-Vl""'
'iff
^Md^AViwA
iR*
v:T
256.
View of
Cheze-Brown,
engaged
hunted and
fished.
a source of food
They introduced
cattle,
which
cult.
Clay figurines
The
Zimbabwe,
at
east of the
new-
possibly by A.D. 1000, at which time trading with Sofala on the Indian
Ocean began
to develop,
people to the east and south of Leopard's Kopje, and for Great
in particular. In excavations at the
light, similar in
and shallow
Zimbabwe
to
The
more
skills
diversified
Zimbabwe
in
tration of population
and
a stratified society.
These
factors
had
Zimbabwe and
342
to
in stone replaced
solid
high
daga construction in
skills,
and resulted
many
in the
gave way to
advanced
art
the Conical
Tower
and
a 'magnificent
it
in height' [256].
I4
The
siting
much
and construction
of these buildings prove that they were not meant for defence.
They were
the seat and centre of religious and temporal power, the capital of a
kingdom. That power was largely based on the king's monopoly of trade
and possibly
slaves,
and imported
fine
glass beads,
The
first
is
were given
in several publications
by Portuguese
Subsequent reports
visitors
and missionaries.
Excavations were started at the end of the nineteenth century and early in
the twentieth by personnel of the newly established colonial administration of Cecil Rhodes.
Their inexperience
much
in archaeology
and
their greed
the
ill-
Many
theories based
on speculation and
finds.
and
in the 1950s
was the
first to
comprehensive report on
all
The most
Zimbabwe and related sites. Pottery vessels, both polished and graphited,
were found. Some are sophisticated in shape and decoration but with
limited variations. The greatest discovery was of seven birdlike figures,
and the lower half of an eighth,
all
343
257.
Two
bird figures.
Steatite.
Museum
of Mankind, London.
tall.
Nothing quite
of birds
known from any other part of Africa. These stylized figures with
plump legs, toes instead of claws, wings and beaks indicated only by
incisions, symbolized either royalty or deities. Now they have become the
symbol of the modern state of Zimbabwe. Two small bird figures [257]
are in the Museum of Mankind in London. A figure in soapstone in the
Tishman Collection in New York and a related figure in the Museum of
Mankind are the only known anthropomorphic representations associated
with Great Zimbabwe. Since neither of these human figures were found
is
344
However, geometric
either.
is
incisions
for
The
housed
in the Site
large
Museum
to
Zimbabwe and
are
now
Great Zimbabwe.
at
number of monoliths,
about one metre high, were found in different parts of the ruins; some of
them, made of
soft soapstone,
a variety of hatchings
a religious significance or
Figures
made of baked
clay,
some
in phallic
clearly
and goats
in Early Iron
Age remains
at
at
They may
all
a cult
who lived
Zimbabwe are
of the settlers
soapstone dishes carved with simple herringbone patterns or with elaborate bas-reliefs depicting animals
Zambesi
at
at
Ingombe
Ilede in
Valley.
or the skills to
salt,
'
at
Mapungubwe and
Bam-
bandyanalo had been occupied from the eleventh century, while the richer
site
by Fagan
19
and Rightmire,
culture in the
Limpopo
20
at
K2
is
regarded as invalid
Pottery constitutes the largest part of the finds of art objects on the two
sites.
many
beautifully decorated
and burnished
345
The
beakers to lugged, spouted and spherical bowls or pots with base and
handles. Some clay figurines, mainly depicting animals, were also dug up.
They could have been toys, or used in cults similar to those in Great
Zimbabwe and adjacent areas. Large quantities of shell, stone, pottery
and
glass beads
imported.
is
latter are
assumed
to
have been
a sculpture of a rhinoceros
and
a finely
shaped
The
from Great Zimbabwe, whose rulers controlled the mines and the trade
routes.
the
An
Limpopo 2
'
is
the import of the raw material from the north and the
mined
the
Limpopo and
that
the
346
is
facts,
possibility
Whatever the
SIXTEEN
Epilogue
art history,
from the
Early Stone Age to the beginning of the twentieth century, has provided
but a glance
of Africa.
The terms
to light.
when
artistic
In the
each other. In particular the links of Nubia, Egypt and other areas in the
north with the rest of Africa have been explored.
across the continent and the impact of Arab invasions, the spread of Islam
and the
arrival of the
The arts of Africa were not of an eclectic nature but part of the people's
life,
were united by
maximum
eyes of those by
whom
may endeavour
and
for
whom
to
it
understand the
art
through the
ology.
and
347
a brilliant sheen,
indeed, almost total demise of artistic creation linked to the old social
order came more swiftly than even the most knowledgeable observers
is
now
politically
and eco-
nomically interdependent with the rest of the world. This will have a
major
effect
arts,
which
will,
by nature of these
- retain
it is
to
recognized the need for the exploration and preservation of the art of their
past,
and
in this
western experts.
tions of Africa
348
monumental
The
by devoted
List of Illustrations
Photographs
i.
2.
Young
girl
3.
Oldest
known wood
2000 B.C.
c.
Fortified hold
Ex Royal
7.
Portrait of an
8.
1 1.
12.
Rock
Rock
Sherbro, Afro-Portuguese.
lid.
10,
13.
Palace.
and
A.D. 750.
5.
6.
9. Saltcellar
c.
4. Fortified silos.
masked
giant
Sefar,
figure.
Tan Zoumaitak,
14.
Rock
15.
16.
painting, figures.
Sahara-Atlas, Algeria,
17.
Tassili-n'Ajjer.
c.
7th-6th
B.C.
mill.
Rock
painting,
c.
Tassili-n'Ajjer.
c.
Tassili-n'Ajjer. Neolithic.
creature. Djebel
Bes Seba,
c.
5th-4th
B.C.
mill.
18.
Rock
19.
Rock
20.
Rock engraving, bovine with spirals. Gonoa, Tibesti. c. 4th-3rd mill. B.C.
Rock painting, hunters and antelope. Tin Aboteka, Tassili-n'Ajjer. 5th~4th
21.
mill.
22.
Rock
Gonoa.
c.
7th-6th
mill.
B.C.
B.C.
painting,
masked
c.
7th-
Rock
mill.
c.
1st
B.C.
24.
Rock
painting, hunters
25.
Rock
26.
Rock
painting, figures
Zimbabwe.
1st mill.
B.C.
27.
28.
Anthropomorphic
29.
30.
31.
Bowl with
349
32.
33.
Ceremonial spoon
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39. Ba-statue.
40.
41.
42. Shield-ring.
43.
Meroe.
Ornament. Nubia.
1st
1st
century B.C.
century B.C.
47.
Head.
c.
A.D. 1000.
48.
Nok
Head. Nok
49.
50.
Head.
51.
Elongated head.
52.
53.
Female
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
Nok
culture.
culture.
Nok
Nok
bust.
60.
Nok
culture.
culture.
pot.
Nok
culture.
Jenne.
62.
Two figures.
63.
style.
Ancient Jenne.
Ancient Jenne.
Dogon.
Ancient Jenne.
68. Pendant.
Dogon.
Tellem/Dogon.
72.
73.
Mask. Bobo.
74.
75.
Sono
76.
Pomdo.
77.
Pomdo. Sherbro.
78.
Pomdo. Sherbro.
staff.
79. Nomoli.
350
culture.
culture.
figure.
61.
67.
Nok
culture.
Guinea-Bissau.
Kissi.
Mende.
List of Illustrations
80. Lid.
81.
Sherbro-Portuguese ivory.
Wine
or water
jar.
'Sao.'
Anthropomorphic head.
87.
(?).
'Sao.'
'Sao.'
'Sao.'
90.
Three Jukun
91.
Wurbu.
Monumental male figure. Mboye.
Two guardian figures. Wurkun.
92.
93.
Female
figures.
figure.
98.
Head. Krinjabo.
99.
Head. Akan.
100.
Head. Akan.
101. Stool.
Akan.
102.
Mask. Asante.
103.
Umbrella
106.
Embroidered cotton
Akan.
finial.
Talisman and
109.
Goldweight,
cloth. Baule.
bracelet. Asante.
fan.
Akan.
Akan, Asante.
115.
Kuduo. Asante.
Igbo-Ukwu.
Igbo-Ukwu.
cloth.
Igbo-Ukwu.
Igbo-Ukwu.
120.
Bowl with
121.
spiral
122.
Human
123.
Three
124.
125.
bells.
Lower
or
Forcados River.
Oron.
once part of drum. M'bembe.
351
128.
129. Headdress.
131.
Head of an Oni.
Head of an Oni.
132.
Mask,
130.
Ife.
Ife.
Oni Obalufon.
said to represent
133. Statue of an
Oni
Ife.
Two staffs
136. Seated
137.
human
with
male
heads.
Ife.
Tada.
figure.
Head of a queen.
140. Potlid,
Ife.
human
head.
Ife.
Ife.
141.
Head of man.
142.
Ife.
Ife.
144.
145.
Fragment of small
146.
statue of dwarf.
147.
Fragment from
148.
Head and
149.
150.
Two
Owo.
152. Detail of
153.
Owo.
Owo.
Owo.
ritual pot.
part of torso.
bracelets.
151. Seated
Gara
Owo.
child.
Owo.
Probably Owo.
figure.
156.
Applique
Owo.
cloth. Dahomey.
Dahomey.
Royal sceptre. Dahomey.
Detail of statue of Gu, god of war. Dahomey.
157. Lion.
158.
159.
160. Seated
male
figure. Esie.
163.
Lidded
164. 165.
Nupe.
vessel
on base. Nupe.
167. Loincloth.
169.
Twin
170.
Female
171.
172.
173.
174.
Cephalomorphic
176.
352
Nupe.
Yoruba.
168.
figures.
175. Armlet.
hilt.
Yoruba.
Yoruba.
bell.
Yoruba.
Yoruba.
Yoruba.
List of Illustrations
Benin City.
Benin City.
Benin City.
drummer,
and
snail
tortoise.
184.
185.
186.
187.
figure.
City.
City.
style, possibly
human
Benin
Benin City.
Owo.
Benin City.
Benin City.
Benin City.
Head.
Udo
194. Bracelet.
195.
Ceremonial double
198.
199.
Two figures
Tumba
Tumba
bell.
Benin City.
Kongo.
near Benin.
village,
Benin City.
on chief's
or ntadi.
Kongo.
staff.
Kongo.
Kongo.
Boma, Kongo.
202.
203.
Top
201.
of staff. Kongo.
Yombe, Kongo.
Male
Hungana.
Holo Holo.
Hemba,
Buli, Zaire.
Twa.
216. Neckrest.
217.
Throwing
knife.
Kuba.
Kuba.
222.
Mmash
Bwoom
223.
Mask. Kuba.
221.
Kuba.
mask. Kuba.
Kuba.
353
Mbagani.
226. Statue of
Kuba.
Kuba.
Aksum,
Ethiopia,
c.
1500 B.C.
Aksum.
c.
Aksum.
Gondar, Ethiopia.
236.
Wooden
vessel.
crosses. Ethiopia.
Kenya
Memorial
240.
Female
241. Stool.
posts.
figure.
c.
1000 B.C.
Uganda.
coast.
Madagascar.
Nyamwese.
Makonde.
244.
245.
Mihrab of mosque.
Swahili.
posts.
Madagascar.
1.
250.
3.
251.
7.
252.
4.
256.
The
The
257.
Two
255.
Conical
Tower
at
Great Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe.
Figures
1.
Spiral motifs.
2.
Urewe
354
Aksum. 5th
Abbreviations
The
following abbreviations are used for journals in the Notes and Bibliography.
A. A.
African Arts
A.A.N.
A.J. P. A.
C.A.
Current Anthropology
J.A.H.
J. H.S.N.
J. R.A.I.
J. Soc. African.
Journal de
J.S.A.I.M.M.
lurgy
S.A.A.B.
S.A.J.S.
W.A.J. A.
355
Notes
INTRODUCTION
i.
Pierre
2.
The
New
York, 1964,
p.
1.
itself;
ancient script of the Berbers, ancestral to the Tuaregs' ttfinagh, been - as yet - of help
in the reconstruction
3.
F.
4.
W. Y. Adams,
5.
G.
6.
W. Fagg and J.
of African history.
P.
Nubia: Corridor
Murdock,
to Africa,
London,
1977.
New
York, 1959.
especially revised
edition, 1978.
7.
K.-H.
8.
'Bantu'
is
common
origin.
9.
10.
origin',
J.A.H., XIII,
2,
pp. 189-216.
11.
12.
M.
M.
Africa', in
(Chapter
13.
vols.,
Farnborough, 1967-71.
D. Dalby
(ed.),
in Africa,
21).
D. W. Phillipson, The Later Prehistory of Eastern and Southern Africa, London, 1977,
pp. 210-27.
14.
R.F. Thompson, The Four Moments of the Sun, Washington, D.C., 1981: 33, quoting
Fu-Kiau Bunseki.
15.
S.
The
2,
Kuba
in
Egypt
as
it
did in
Ife,
Owo, Benin, Jukun, Nupe, Asante and many others. It is a phenomenon known
throughout the ages and in the history of many peoples, including the Sumerians and
the Hittites, from whom it may have come to Africa in the first place; or parallel
developments may have occurred in several places. As to the argument of diffusion
from Egypt
feature
common
Africans)
356
to
both
should not
he said that
like to say
'as
Herodotus wrote
and
in
other'.
Notes
2.
2.
J.
p.
680.
3.
Carson
4.
I.
5.
6.
Andre Leroi-Gourhan,
7.
Vol.
I,
1981,
p. 27.
London, 1959.
Saharan rock
art',
Patdeuma,
F. Mori,
'The
earliest
pp. 87-92.
9.
la
prehistoire nord-africaine et
et
Ethno-
2,
1954,
13-17.
W. W. Bishop
11.
12.
and J.D. Clark (eds.), Background to Evolution in Africa, Chicago, 1967, pp. 601-27.
Dr Karl-Heinz Striedter, personal communication to the author, 9 September 1982.
13.
At Sefar, 'Greek
colour plate
14.
God
with Praying
in
Subsaharan
Museen der
p. 191;
15.
ibid.
16.
17.
Highly schematized
18.
Tassili Frescoes,
II.
der Sahara-Felsbilder', in
cit., p.
253
ff.
II.
them
to
have
now
Heinz
Africa', in
figures,
Striedter, personal
communication
fakes.
(Dr Karl-
to the author.)
Paul Huard and L. Allard, 'Contributions a l'etude des spirales au Sahara central et
nigero-tchadien', Bulletin de la Societe Prehistorique Francaise, 63, 2, 1966, pp. 433
figs.
19.
ff.
and
2-9.
le
Groupe C de
Camps-Fabrer, op.
21.
22.
J.H. Chaplin, 'The prehistoric rock art of the Lake Victoria region', Azania, IX, 1974,
cit.
pp. 1-50.
23.
in
Mwanza
1968, p. 175.
24.
25.
pp. 279-85.
W.M.
Anthropology, 1978, 19/1, pp. 216-17, presents a hypothesis that geometrical designs
lines, circle
to
and dot,
6500 B.C.,
etc.)
cattle earliest, to
5000 B.C.
G. Schweinfurth, 'Uber
alte
Tierbilder
und
D.W.
Phillipson,
'Zambian rock
paintings',
World Archaeology,
3, 3,
February 1972,
PP- 3I3-27-
357
29.
D.W.
Phillipson, Prehistoric
1972.
30.
Ritchie, op.
31.
cit., p.
107.
11 cave,
33.
Patricia
34.
ibid.
Roy
Africa: Africa's
p.
in.
South West
1.
N.R. Bennett
(eds.),
Paintings,
New
38.
Willcox, op.
39.
Vinnicombe, op.
3.
in
York, 1981.
cit.,
plate 11.
cit.
J.
art',
Vol.
I,
1981,
p. 676.
2.
Paul Huard and L. Allard, 'Contributions a 1'etude des spirales au Sahara central
nigero-tchadien', Bulletin de la Societe Prehistortque Francaise, 63,
3.
H. A. Nordstrom
(ed.), Neolithic
Sudanese Nubia,
III,
and A-Group
Sites,
Uppsala, 1972.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
et
1966, p. 449.
A. Arkell, 'Dating early Khartoum', in 'Agypten und Kusch', Schriften zur Geschichte
2,
Wenig, op.
to Africa,
London, 1977,
69
p. 3.
1.
ff.
cit., cat.
A. Badaway, 'An Egyptian fortress in the Belly of Rock. Further excavations and
discoveries in the Sudanese island of Askut', Illustrated London News, 245, 1964,
pp. 86-8.
12.
Kingdom
pp. 124-31.
13.
Wenig, op.
14.
de Nubie', Kush,
15.
Wenig, op.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21. J. Wallert,
no. 13.
cit., cat.
15,
Khartoum (1967-68)
and
le
groupe "C"
37 and
p. 141.
no. 1036.
61-7.
Der Verzierte
Lbffel,
Wiesbaden, 1967.
22.
Museum
23.
24.
A.H. Sayce, University of Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, IV, 191
358
II,
1,
Notes
26.
Hermann Amborn,
im Subsaharischen
27.
flit
die Eisenproduktion
Wiesbaden, 1976.
P.L. Shinnie, 'On radiocarbon chronology of the Iron Age in sub-Saharan Africa',
C.A., 10, 1969, pp. 229-30.
28.
29.
P.L. Shinnie, The African Iron Age, Oxford, 1971, pp. 89-107.
D.W.
Phillipson, 'Notes
and southern
30.
on the
later prehistoric
for eastern
and southern
Africa',
J.A.H.,
15,
Museum,
no. 65222.
32.
33.
Wenig, op.
34.
The Noba
cit., p.
Niger-Kordofanian
35.
4.
no. 24397.
265.
modern Nuba of
origin.
in Antiquity, I,
Brooklyn, 1978,
p. 133.
2.
H. A. Nordstrom
(ed.), Neolithic
Sudanese Nubia,
III,
3.
4.
and A-Group
Sites,
Nok and
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Ife,
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R.T.D.
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Nok
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34.
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36.
37.
38.
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25.
26.
27.
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W.J.
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54.
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Timothy
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The
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The
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an oktya
is
ji
the
5, 6,
63.
VII, pp. 31
mithkal
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is
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The
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M.
A. and B.O.
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Timothy
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19.
20.
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2,
its
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first
millennium
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tin
leaded
content varying from 2.2 to 18.2 per cent, with some items of pure
copper and some of zinc alloy brass. Igbo-Ukwu copper alloys used
in lost
wax
castings
are predominantly leaded bronzes, with varying additions of tin, while the objects
produced by hammering and chasing are 97 per cent copper. Most of the
castings are copper zinc alloys,
i.e.
21.
22.
It is
Igbo-Ukwu were
Oreri may have been there
Ife
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p. 170.
p.
271).
23.
Copper
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24.
304
See
and
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Frank
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34.
36.
60-66.
Guide
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1500
B.C.,
and
in the
B.C., tools
K. Nicklin and
University
38.
S. J.
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1,
shrine',
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'.
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the late R.E. Bradbury showing seven or eight ivories belonging to the Oromila (Ifa)
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more imaginative
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same type
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55.
56.
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58.
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15.
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16.
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A J. P. A.,
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Waterberg
District,
Trans-
Index
Ama
Abiri 198
Amazon
Abiriba 171
Amulets 82
131
223, 231
Abomey 222
Amun
Abuja8i,86
Andoni creek
Acacus 47
Ada 253
Adamawa
55
171
Anokye 139
131, 174
Adua 312
Adulis3i7
Anyang 182
Afo 131
Afro-Portuguese ivories 30, 32,
18-19
Anyi 137
Aowin 137
Benin 31
Sherbro 32, 118
condiment
sets 31,
Applique 223-5
118
spoons 30, 32
240
Agbada 239
A-group culture
no
Ahinsan 145
327
Asantehene 147-9,
Aido-Hwedo 222
Asen 229
Egun
(or
Popo) 222
Ewe 222
Aspelta,
->
5&
King 64
Assyria 58
Aksum 19,22,23,73,311-20
Akuaba 139-40
Atye 137
Akwamu
Awka
Akwanshi
178, 180-81
Aswan
55
or
171
Alfonso
B-group culture 58
Allada 222
Ba-statues 67-8, 69
Baga 112
Ballana culture 73
Aloala 333
Bamako 92
Bamana 98,
Altars of the
Aiwa,
hand 264
Kingdom
of 73
103,
in, 112
395
Index
Bookcovers 233
Bankouni
Bantu
style
(see also
92
Languages) 28,
Borno
122, 130
Borkou
55,
60
Bowman
Boyo 292
Bozo 103
Andrew 285
Battel,
Brandberg (Namibia) 51
321, 340
glass 156, 165, 205, 272, 343,
222,312
346
Buganda 326
Buguni 105
Beafada 112
Begho
Belehede 106,
Belepe,
no
Bulaam 299
Bulawayo 50, 342
Bulom
Bunyoro 326
clapperless 172
Burial 201
Bursa 106
Beni confederacy 25
Bushmen
211-
Bwende
(San) 36
Byzantium 26, 56
248-70, 327
Benin, Republic of (Dahomey), see
Da-
homey
Benue River
C-group culture
Cameroon
183,251
(of Good
Hope)
Cape
Biepi 130
36, 52,
334
Carthage 26, 86
Birds 219
see
236
Boers 340
Pottery
Lake Chad
Bochie 225
art 34, 102,
Ceramics,
Chad
278
Body
Bokyi 172
Chamba
Boma
Chameleon 222
Bongo 326
396
Chests 331
Index
Drums
Duruma
334
Dyula
Clay
178
slit
(see also
323
wax
Eastern Africa 22
Coins 317
Edo
Congo
(see also
Zaire) 278
Egbekri 141
Copper
Egungun 247
Egypt
19, 22,
Ejagham
Eket 178
Ekoi, see
Ejagham
Ekpu
Cycladic 19, 49
Elesie 231
Da 222
Dahomey
Elmina 29
Ennedi 36, 49,
(Republic of Benin) 154,
183,
222-9, 2 3 1-2
Daima
55,
290
Ere
Ibeji 239,
242-4
Dakakari 82
Dan
23
Dande27i,345
Ewe
Dar-es-Salaam 330
Darfur 49,
290
222
Ezana 319
Debre-Damo3i9
Ezelzacht 53
Dengese 305
Denkyira 139, 145
Deutsche- Aksum Expedition 313
Dhlo Dhlo 345
Diboondolmaboondo
(pi.)
Diego Cao
272
29, 271,
Dimple-based pottery,
278, 279
Ezomo
263
Fa 225
Fagg, William B. 184, 189, 196, 202, 214,
see
Urewe ware
trays 240
Fali 123-4
bowls 240
tappers 240
Maramba 285
Dogon
mirror 283
in, 112
Dongur3i3
Fezzan 38
doorposts 304
Drakensberg 52-3, 54
Fon
397
Index
Forowa
Gwari 85
Harare 50
301,304
Fulani 103, 105, 122, 130, 233, 249
Hausa
Heads
Gao 90
Gara
Lajuwa 196
memorial 268
Gato 326
Gbehanzin 223, 225, 226
reserve 68
Gelede 244
Geroza 332
spirit cult
Gezo 223
259
winged 266
Ghana, Ancient
Hehe 329
Giou 106
Hemang 145
Hemba 292, 295
Giragi 220
Hoggar
Holo 286
38, 48,
49
crucibles 205
Hungana
289, 290
Goamai
131
Goblets, see
Gold
Ibeji
Cups
242
Ibol 308
3",343,345,346
dust 157
mines 342
I fa
tray 288
weights 157
Idoma 131
Idris Alaoma 122
6,251,253,256
acropolis 343
Conical
Tower
Elliptical
Cycladic
Minoan
Mycean
340, 343
Greece/Greeks
19, 20,
19,
49
19,
49
Igbirra 229
320
(or
Idio 184
Isaiah (Anozie) 164, 165-7, 168, 170, 171
Gun, Ogun)
Ukwu
casters 184
264
49
Gu
253, 268
Iguegha 253
Ijara 231
Guinea Coast
29, 137
Guro 140
Gurunsi
398
1 1
184-207,
264
Index
Ikom
Ilari
Kaarta 103
169, 181
Kabyles 25
232
222
Kaduna
178
Kagara 86
229
Ilorin
Dam
India 311
Kainji
Kalahari 171
Ingombe
Ilede 345
205
Initiation 116
Kambe
Kanem-Borno
Kano
326
90, 121, 123, 130
Karagwe
326, 328
345
Late 28, 334
Ishan 264
Karim
306
232,283,319,330
Kei 75
Isoko 171
Yemoo
Ita
131
202
Ivory 21, 30-32, 55, 87, 90,
18-19, 121,
Keaka
131, 182
Kenya
Kerewe 327
272,273,296,311,343
condiment sets/salt cellars 30
Kerma
hunting horns 30
Khartoum
Iyalode 232
Kimbt/bimbt
58, 61
(pi.)
279
Jaga27i
Janus
figures,
Kissi
Jemaa
13-16, 120
Konfe 106
Kongo
138
Konso 326
Kordofan
100
Jewellery 68-9, 71, 82, 102, 124, 129, 156,
172, 231, 236, 290, 304, 320, 331,
340
Koro
34, 55
131
anklets 79
Kotoko 123-4
Koutiala 105
Krinjabo 142
bwoom
Jiji
329
Jokwe
296-9
Jos 178
plateau 75, 86, 121, 123, 124, 164
Jukun 130-36,251
304, 305
305
ngady a mwash 304
Kuduo
Kumasi
399
Index
Kumbie
87
Loango 285
Kumbie-Saleh
87, 92
Kurumba 105,
Kush 62, 73
106-8,
Looms
Kusu 292
narrow
vertical
239
236
Kwale ware
Kwangp
no
Lobi
no
28, 323
Kwilu River
304
222
Lualaba 290
Lafogido
Luba
Oni 189
site 196,
200
Lake Chad
Lake
Lurum
Mweru
Lake Nyanza
106
322
Lwena
28, 290, 292, 294,
322
296, 299
Lydenburg 334-7,
338, 339
Lyeel 309
327
Lalibela 319
Lamu330,
Maasai 323
Madagascar (Republic of Malagasy) 325,
331
Languages
326, 332
Akan 137
Amharic 312
Bantu
Maghan Diabe 92
330
Edo 248
Maghrib 138
Mahenyafe 119-20
Ge'ez 312
Malawi 50
Gur
137
Kimbundu 296
Kwa
248
Manda
Mande
Luba 299
Ndongo 296
Sabaean 22, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315
Swahili 330
Zulu 339
Mansa Musa 90
Mapungubwe 345-6
Marandet
169, 256
Marka 103
Mashonaland 345
Masks 95, 101, 105,
Limpopo River
225-6
304, 323
aku maga
Lisa 222
Loanda
Bwa in
400
in,
131,
67, 68,
331
207
Lion
Malunga 296
Mambila 131
271, 296
Index
Murdock, G.P. 24
Murray, K.C. 196, 229
copper 189
Dogon in
Great
Musawwarat-es-Sufra 67
Musical instruments
1 1
Kanaga in
Satimbe
1 1
Sim in
rock gongs 49
sideblown horns/trumpets 268, 272, 283
epa 245
Egungun
Fliigelmaske (Senufo)
8tf
gelede 244
Mwari 343
go 140
1.5
Gurunsi
Mwene mupata
Myamakala
140
gult
331
Mutota 345
Mwata yamvo 295-6
1 1
in
345
101
Myceel 303
Namibia
Mossi
1 1
Napata
Kuba,
see
Kuba masks
58, 63,
64-5
Natal 53
Kurumba no, in
Mongop 131
Ndondondwana 336
Ndongo
Obalufon 193
language 296
people 271
Ndop
terracotta 175
305, 308-10
Matebeleland 345
Maternity figures 100
Matopo
Ngola 296
Nganga
Hills 50
283, 285
Nguni 337-9
Mbiri 343
Mboko
292
Mboom 300
Mboma 278,
Mbundu
183,232,233,251,256
Inland Delta 91, 94, 103, 105
bend
285
Mende
Meroe
271
320
Nile Valley 23, 24, 42, 49, 50, 55, 56, 58, 75
Nilotes 330
Mgesh 300
Nwmbo
Nioniossi 106,
Mintadi/ntadi (sing.),
Mokwa
Mossi
Bitumba
nkondi 283
npezo 283
42
Mozambique
Muanda 275
mbula 283
329, 330
Morocco
no
232
Mombasa 28,
Mongo 299
Mopti
see
279-80
Mumuye 135
Mungo Park 103
na moganga 283
Nkwere 171
Noba 73
Nobatia, Kingdom of 73
Nok
205,231,236
Nomoli
Nselle 180
401
Index
Nta 1 80
Ntadi
Oshogbo, 239
(pi.
mintadi) 275
Nuba 34
Nubia
129, 164,205,341.
Nupe
Ovia 248
137, 140
263
Palm
286
Pate 331
Ereda-Uwa 251
Oguola, 5th
247,251
Akenzua
256
Nyim 305
Nyamwese 327, 329
Nzambi 32, 299
Oba
Ovimbundu
Owo
235,251
Nyame
Pectoral 219
Oba 253
Ambish 310
Pemba 332
Pel
Esigie 259
Eweka 251
Osemwede 266, 270
Obalara's Land 196, 201
OdoOgbe
Odudua
Street 196
Phalaborwa 334
260
College 196
Ofaro
23
Pomtan
Offa 229
(sing.
Pomdo)
Ogane 251
112,
139,257,259,268,271-
2,275,299,311,326,339,343
Ogun
Ogun
222, 247
River 232
Ojugbela 207
Oni
96, 207,
Ptolemies 56, 65
Lafogido 189
Queen Mother
Quivers 218
Sir Adesoji
Aderemi 202
Onile 241
Radiocarbon (carbon
205
figure 205
Oron
402
Ore
335, 343
Ram 42,
304
baskets 272
Red Sea
Reisner, George 57
Index
Rock
art,
Shankadi 292
African 23
Acacus 47
Shango 242
Cape
36, 52
Darfur 49
Ennedi 36, 49
Ethiopia 49
Shirazy 332
Fezzan 38, 49
Shona34i,343
Hoggar
38, 48,
Shyaam
49
Lesotho 52
Mbul
Ngoong
16-19, 120
(see also
Shamba
Malawi 50
Namibia 40, 50-51
10
Sierra
Natal 53
Nile Valley 42, 49
Nubian Desert
Leone
42, 50
Snakes 49,
Sahara-Atlas 42
Tassili n'Ajjer 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45,
no,
260
Transvaal 52
Societies 240
Zambia 50
Zimbabwe
Rome
gelede 244
50, 51, 52
Sofala 342
22, 26, 56
Ro-Ponka 112
Somalia 329
Rwanda
Songo
32,
299
Sahara 24, 35, 36, 40, 42, 47, 49, 55, 60, 75,
Sono 112
103, 112
90, 121
Sotho 334
Sahel36, 41,42, 90
Soulwashers'
badges
(akrafokonmu)
San (Bushmen)
Southern Africa
Sanga
28, 103,
290-92
336
Spoons
30, 63
292, 323
rattle (ukhure)
Stanley, Sir
105, 112
248
Henry M. 328
117,
28, 291,
292
120,229,232,275,345
Shabaqo, King 62
Ngoong
51, 334,
334
30, 271
Shaka 339
Shamba Balongongo,
Shaba province
149,
151
no,
313, 316
Stone 21, 25
Stone Age 39, 51,86,334
see
Shyaam
Mbul
403
Index
Stools cont.
Tigre
Akan 146
Tilemsi Valley 87
Asantehene 147
Timbuktu
blackened 147
Tin 124
Tiv 135,
Buli 292
Togo
136, 181
caryatid 292
chiefs' 139, 147, 292, 295,
296
granite 186
quartz 186
Trumpets
soapstone 186
sideblown 152
terracotta 186
Tshikapa 290
throne 147
Tsoede 219
Tuareg
36, 90
229, 253
Twa
300
Twifo 139
Sundi 271
Sun
Udo
disc 42, 63
267
Umbrella
Sunni dynasty 90
afenatene 149
afena 149
Uraei 63
Swords
Tabwa
Tada
Weapons) 87
(see also
Urewe ware
Urhobo 264
292, 329
Vai 120
Tassili n'Ajjer 24, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45,
Venda 334
Vere 131
Techiman 145
Tegbesu, King
223, 232
Teke 285
Vili
Tellem 103-5
Vinnicombe, Patricia 52
Volta 137
Tetela 300
271
adire 239
akumtan 154
Waja
applique 223-5
Weapons
331,332
153, 161
Thermoluminescence
174,
231
216, 278, 280
404
131
armour 249
kente 153
Thompson, R.F.
55
dagger 235
handgun 259
Index
Wunmonije
187,
il
189, 202
Yaka 286
Weights 158-60
Yatenga 106
Yeha 312
Yelwa
Wele 290
White Lady of Brandberg
51
Yoruba
Collection,
Yemen 330
Yombe 271,
^6, 207,
232,234-47,248,251
Ulm
231,256
W itwatersrand 334
Zaire
Wood
Woyo
271, 278
Wukari
52, 333,
344-5
405
BRIGHTON
BRANCH LIBRARY
N73 8
.5
1984
85029152-23 BR
The Date Due Card in the pocket indicates the date on or before which this
book should be returned to the Library.
Please
pocket.
do
not
this
in
Germany
in 1905
and studied
left
becoming
and have
built
up a
an
large collection.
and writing in
handbook
for dealers
Werner Gillon
Institute, a
is
and
this field.
His book
Collecting
collectors.
J.
Gallery,
ISBN
D"fllbD-D13T-l