Bronze Ife Head

The parallel lines over the face are typical of Ife heads. In Yoruba legend the city of Ife was the place where the gods came down to populate the earth. The children of the first god, Odudua, are said to have spread out from Ife, founding their own forest kingdoms in west Africa. The people of Ife influenced much of the art and culture of the neighboring regions - a metal worker is said to have taught the lost wax process to the people of Benin.

Ife, as capital and religious centre of South-West Nigeria, was one of the first cities to emerge at this latitude at the end of the first millennium AD. Substantial numbers of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic sculptures (elephants, rams, etc.) mainly in terracotta, but also in brass, were produced in the region between the 11th and the 15th centuries. Human and animal representations with the same characteristics were also added in high-relief on spherical pottery. All these items are known on the market as “Ife art”, although they may come from other cities such as Owo. These brass objects (commonly known as ÒbronzeÓ) are strikingly realistic, although they are almost certainly idealised portraits of dead kings or Oni. In most cases, they are isolated life-sized heads, sometimes busts broken off, and exceptionally full length figurines around 50 cm high, crowned and wearing heavy necklaces. Some heads are circled with a diadem, whereas others exhibit perforations around the skull and on occasions on the neck, chin and around the mouth. The terracotta heads are far more numerous and varied. Their height ranges from 25 cm to close to life-size. Effigies of bodies, whole or fragmented, have also been found elsewhere. The heads from Owo generally carry headgear in the place of diadems, and many of them are gagged. Some of the faces, whether made of brass or terracotta, carry vertical parallel incisions. Alongside these naturalistic figures, some highly abstract human heads were produced. On a cone, a mouth has been gouged out, and eyes are represented in the form of round holes. A number of horn-like excrescences emerge from the top of the skull.

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