|
HOME :
African & Tribal Art :
Nok, Katsina, Sokoto : Nok Terracotta Sculpture of a Woman
|
 |
|
|
|
Nok Terracotta Sculpture of a Woman - DV.038
Origin: Northern Nigeria
Circa: 400
BC
to 200
AD
Dimensions:
31" (78.7cm) high
Collection: African Art
Style: Nok
Medium: Terracotta
Condition: Extra Fine
Location: United States
|
|
|
| Photo Gallery |
|
|
| Description |
Comparatively little is known of the Nok culture,
which is defined largely on the basis of its superb
terracotta artworks. Flourishing between 900 BC
and 200 AD, the Nok style is in fact an
agglomeration of similar traditions that
flourished in western and central Nigeria. While
there are different stylistic categories, these have
little social significance as finds of in-situ Nok
material culture are almost unheard-of. Stray
archaeological discoveries have confirmed that
the Nok culture is in fact a myth – the Nok is a
tradition, a style of manufacture that was
adopted by different Iron-Age agriculturally-
based communities that in fact had widely
varying cultures in all other respects. What does
unite the trends, however, is a series of
outstanding ceramic sculptures, which constitute
the most sophisticated and formalised early
African artistic tradition outside Egypt. It should
be noted that the sophistication of these
terracottas makes some scholars believe that
they sprang from a hitherto undiscovered
ceramic tradition. Technically, they are very
unusual because of the manner in which coiled
and subtractive sculpting methods were used to
capture likenesses. Aesthetically, they are both
naturalistic and expressionist, with highly
distinctive elongated forms, triangular eyes,
pierced pupils/nostrils and elaborate hairstyles.
Substyles of the Nok tradition include the
Classical Jemaa Style, the Katsina Ala Style
(elongated heads) and the Sokoto Style
(elongated monobrow foreheads, lending a
severe expression to the face) and random
variants such as the Herm Statues of Kuchamfa
(simplified cylindrical figures topped with normal
heads) and the “standard” three-dimensional
standing figures, which subscribe to the Jemaa
style. The function of the art is unclear, although
the care with which they are executed has led
some to claim they represent nobility, perhaps
ancestors to which obeisance and sacrifices were
offered.
- (DV.038)
|
| |
|
