Description:

Western Africa, Northern Nigeria, Nok & Sokoto cultures, ca. 500 BCE to 200 CE. A lovely set of 2 hand-built terracotta heads from 2 distinctive ancient African cultures: the Nok and the Sokoto. First is a Nok head with a slender, phalliform body surmounted by a head with a rounded skull cap, slender eyes outlined with ovoid frames, and a flush nose with slit-form nostrils. The protruding lips are slightly pursed, and an incised beard beneath portrays him as a distinguished individual. The larger head is from the Sokoto culture and bears full lips, upturned nostrils, and diagonal eyes beneath an enormous forehead and a peaked cap brim. Size (Sokoto): 3.7" W x 4.9" H (9.4 cm x 12.4 cm); (Nok): 2" W x 5.5" H (5.1 cm x 14 cm)

Provenance: Whisnant Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA acquired prior to 2000

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#169854

  • Condition: Sokoto head is likely a fragment of a larger composition with losses to accompanying features below neckline; Nok head is intact and very good. Sokoto head has losses to areas of cap brim as shown, with one stable fissure down majority of body of Nok figure, and light encrustations across both. Great preservation to original figural forms.

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March 3, 2022 8:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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