Bronze Head from Ife

Common card · No. 490513

The Bronze Head from Ife, or Ife Head, is one of eighteen copper alloy sculptures that were unearthed in 1938 at Ife in Nigeria, the religious and royal centre of the Yoruba people. It is believed to represent a king (Ooni). It was probably made in the 14th-15th century CE. The realism and sophisticated craftsmanship of the objects challenged the dismissive and patronising Western conceptions of African art. The naturalistic features of the Ife heads are unique and the stylistic similarities of these works "suggest that they were made by an individual artist or in a single workshop."

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