Ile ife bronze head

In January workmen were clearing away topsoil ile ife bronze head house foundations they struck metal and found a group of sculptures in the form of human heads cast in metal. The location was in Wunmonije Compound in the city of Ifein what is now south-western Nigeria, ile ife bronze head. This accidental find led to the eventual discovery of seventeen heads in brass and copper and the broken top half of a king figure. This magnificent brass head was one of those discovered in Wunmonije Compound.

The Bronze Head from Ife , or Ife Head , [2] is one of eighteen copper alloy sculptures that were unearthed in at Ife in Nigeria , the religious and former royal centre of the Yoruba people. It is believed to represent a king. It was probably made in the fourteenth-fifteenth century C. The naturalistic features of the Ife heads are unique [3] [1] and the stylistic similarities of these works "suggest that they were made by an individual artist or in a single workshop. Like most West African " bronzes " the piece is actually made of copper alloyed with other metals, described by the British Museum as "heavily leaded zinc-brass".

Ile ife bronze head

Nearly a thousand years ago, Ife artisans sculpted bronze and terra-cotta heads, whose realism and beauty would astound the first Europeans to see them in the s. The Yoruba people of Nigeria believe Ife to be a sacred city founded by the gods and the birthplace of humanity. Lying miles northeast of the Nigerian city Lagos , Ife was where archaeologists uncovered a series of sculptures that revealed a rich yet overlooked history of Yoruba culture to the world. While some were made of metal and others of terra-cotta, the heads of Ife share a highly symmetrical style. Some faces are adorned with lines and designs, and elaborate hair styles top their heads. All convey a dignified and imposing majesty. The importance of the human head in the Yoruba cosmology was unknown to the German ethnologist Leo Frobenius , who first saw one of these artworks in Born to a middle-class family in Berlin in , then the capital of the new German Empire, Frobenius spent his childhood and youth reading the chronicles of 19th-century explorers, which awakened his fascination for the African continent. Starting in , Frobenius traveled to Africa, returning from trips with thousands of cultural items that he sold to German museums. In he began his fourth expedition, passing through the territory of the Yoruba, then controlled by British Nigeria. Emerging around 1, years ago, Yoruba culture flowered in the region, and its people founded many kingdoms and cities.

The location was in Wunmonije Compound in the city of Ifein what is now south-western Nigeria. Even today, its ruler is thought of as the descendant of the original creator gods. The sale caused consternation among the Yoruba elders, ile ife bronze head, and the matter reached the ears of the British administration.

If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser. Search for courses, skills, and videos. In January workmen were clearing away topsoil for house foundations they struck metal and found a group of sculptures in the form of human heads cast in metal. The location was in Wunmonije Compound in the city of Ife , in what is now south-western Nigeria. This accidental find led to the eventual discovery of seventeen heads in brass and copper and the broken top half of a king figure. This magnificent brass head was one of those discovered in Wunmonije Compound.

Ile-Ife, also known as Ife, Ife-Lodun, or the Kingdom of Ife, is world famous for its clay ceramic, or terracotta heads, and copper-alloy and bronze ornaments. But few people know of the history of the kingdom itself. Ile-Ife, the ancient Yoruba city, which lies in present-day Osun state, southwestern Nigeria, is considered one of the largest and oldest towns of the Yoruba Kingdom. For the Yoruba, the holy city, founded around B. Although historians argue that the city was first established when an early Yoruba leader, Oduduwa and his army invaded the city and pushed its early Igbo inhabitants to the east, the Yoruba say the city was created where the gods first came to earth.

Ile ife bronze head

If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser. Search for courses, skills, and videos. By The British Museum. Left: Male figure, probably one of the King's servants, 12th—14th century, terracotta, Ife pronounced ee-feh is today regarded as the spiritual heartland of the Yoruba people living in Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, and their many descendants around the world. It is rightly regarded as the birthplace of some of the highest achievements of African art and culture, combining technical accomplishment with strong aesthetic appeal. From the 12th to the 15th centuries, Ife flourished as a powerful, cosmopolitan, and wealthy city-state in West Africa , in what is now modern Nigeria. It was an influential center of trade connected to extensive local and long-distance trade networks which enabled the region to prosper. The artists of Ife developed a refined and highly naturalistic sculptural tradition in stone, terracotta, brass, and copper and created a style unlike anything in Africa at the time.

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In fact the sculpture of Ife is today rightly seen as one of the highest achievements of African art and culture. In other projects. Ife art includes terra-cotta and bronze heads and busts, stone sculpture, stools and religious pieces carved in quartz, monumental granite monoliths, statues of humans and animals. The lifelike rendering of sculptures from medieval Ife is exceptional in Sub-Saharan African art, and initially was considered the earliest manifestation of a tradition that continued in Yoruba art, in early Benin art and other pieces. National Museum of Ife, Nigeria. Among these artworks the representations of humans are striking for their naturalistic style. A Nigerian postage stamp, issued seven years before independence from Great Britain, bears the likeness of a noble Ife head. Even today, its ruler is thought of as the descendant of the original creator gods. Department Africa, Oceania and the Americas. Travel The perks—and pitfalls—of letting TV and films inspire your trip. Archived from the original on 20 April Before this was achieved, this head made its way to London via Paris and another two were sent to America. Nigerian archaeologist Ekpo Eyo later wrote that preconceived notions of so-called Western civilization blinded non-African scholars to the fact that complex sophisticated works of art and culture could come from Africa:. It was even suggested that these heads were evidence that Ife was the site of the legendary lost civilization of Atlantis as described by the Greek philosopher, Plato.

In January workmen were clearing away topsoil for house foundations they struck metal and found a group of sculptures in the form of human heads cast in metal. The location was in Wunmonije Compound in the city of Ife , in what is now south-western Nigeria.

The period in which the work was made was an age of prosperity for the Yoruba civilisation, which was built on trade via the River Niger to the peoples of West Africa. Wikimedia Commons. Art and cultural heritage : law, policy, and practice 1. Environment Fast fashion goes to die in this Chilean desert. One of the ways to achieve the hollowed result is creating the wax sculptures over a formed clay core. Terra-cotta male head. The identification and function of the head, and the others discovered at this site, remain uncertain. A plaitwork element rises behind the roundel, it terminates in a pointed ovoid tip; both elements bear traces of black paint. Source: Apley, Alice. It was even suggested that these heads were evidence that Ife was the site of the legendary lost civilization of Atlantis as described by the Greek philosopher, Plato. The Yoruba god Olokun , supposedly the figure depicted by the head, was, he said, the Greek sea god Poseidon. Environment This exploding mine holds a treasure that may change the world. Absolutely no reproductions! January 5, At the end of the process, the clay core is then broken up and removed and the final brass work is finished.