Provenance: From the collection of Jerald Barnes, a former US diplomat who collected in West Africa. A written provenance statement is included with your purchase.
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Overview
A terracotta head in the Nok tradition of Nigeria, mounted on a metal rod with a dark square block base. The head is long and narrow, with a high forehead that tapers to a small chin. The eyes are small pierced holes set in shallow sockets under faint arched brows, above a short nose and full lips with a narrow opening between them. The hair rises into a tall cylindrical topknot with a flat top, with ridged bands around its base. A long lock grooved along its length hangs at each temple down to the jaw, and there is a round boss low on the back of the head. The coarse orange-red clay is full of small white mineral grains, which gives the surface a speckled, granular look. It suits a shelf, desk, mantel or a collection of African terracotta.
About Age and Authenticity
This piece comes from a collection lot (ex Barnes) in which a companion piece was thermoluminescence (TL) tested by Artemis Testing Lab in February 2021, with an estimated age of about 2,200 years (±350). This piece itself has not been tested. We make no claim about its age and sell it as is. Buyers are welcome to arrange their own TL testing.
Background
The Nok culture takes its name from the village of Nok, near the Jos Plateau in central Nigeria, where terracotta heads came to light during tin mining in 1928 and 1943. The archaeologist Bernard Fagg recognised the finds as the work of a previously unknown ancient culture and named it after the village. His best-known find, the Jemaa Head, had been used as a scarecrow in a yam field before it reached him. Nok terracottas are the oldest known figurative sculpture in Africa south of the Sahara. Fagg's early radiocarbon dates ran from about 440 BCE to 200 CE, and excavations by Goethe University Frankfurt since 2005 place the culture between about 1500 BCE and the start of the Common Era, with sculpture made from around 900 BCE. The Nok were also among the earliest ironworkers in West Africa.
Documented Nok sculptures are hollow and built up from coils of coarse clay mixed with gravel. They share a recognisable style: eyes outlined as triangles or semicircles with pierced pupils, arched brows, pierced nostrils, mouths and ears, and carefully detailed hairstyles and jewellery. Heads are large in proportion to the body, and most heads known today were once part of full standing, seated or kneeling figures. The original smooth clay slip has usually worn away, leaving a grainy surface like the one seen here. What the figures were for is still not certain. The Frankfurt excavations found broken sculptures placed close to graves, which suggests a role in funeral rites.
This head shows several of these features: pierced eyes under arched brows, a detailed hairstyle with a tall topknot and grooved side locks, and a grainy surface. It is a fragment of a larger figure and is unmarked. It is from the collection of Jerald Barnes, an American collector who lived in West Africa for over a decade.
Condition
A fragment broken from a larger figure, with an uneven old break at the neck. There is a short crack at the top of the forehead near the hairline, with a small hole beside it. The surface is weathered and granular, with darker patches and earth deposits in the recesses, and the facial details are softened by wear. No repairs are visible. The block base has light scratches and small nicks. Please see all photos.
Dimensions & Weight
The head alone is about 7 x 4 x 3.5 inches (H x W x D), and about 10.5 inches high on its stand. The head and stand together weigh about 3 lb 14.1 oz.
Shipping
Free standard shipping within the US, packed securely.
