A bronze head in the Ife style of unknown age, depicting the portrait of a young man with realistic fascial features, surmounted with the bust of a cock, decorated with stylized feathers, different layers of oxidised, partly greenish patina.

Lit.:Dynasty and Divinity. Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria. Museum for African Art, New York, 2009, 12, 22, Abb. 3. Ekpo Eyo, Frank Willett, Kunstschätze aus Alt-Nigeria. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1983, 20f., Abb. 44, 45, 50. Gernot Feucht, Early Nigerian bronzes under Scientific Scrutiny. In: Ife, Akan und Benin. Westafrikanische Kunst aus 2000 Jahren. Arnoldsche Art Publications, 2000. 29ff. (Abb. 10, Statue of a dignitary, Ife/Nigeria). Frank Willett, Ife. Metropole afrikanischer Kunst. LübbeVerlag, 2. Auflage 1975, 20, 32, 59ff. (Bronzes from Ita Yemoo), 67ff. (lost-wax-method), Taf. 6 (Bronze Oni, Ita Yemoo). Taf. 7 (Bronze Oni, Wunmonije Compound). Taf. III and 10 (Bronze couple from Ita Yemoo). About the political significance of bronze images of dignitaries: Suzanne Preston Blier, Art and risk in ancient Yoruba. Cambridge University Press, 2017, 247ff.

sold

Height: 35 cm
Weight: 2,3 kg