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A fine Nok earthenware 'thinker' figure browse these categories for related items... Directory: Antiques: Regional Art: African: Sculpture: Pre AD 1000: item # 937429 Please refer to our stock # N490-00c when inquiring.
michael cichon tribal arts P.O. Box 5919 Bradenton, FL 34281 941.224.0440 Guest Book $6,500.00 |
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| Of the 'elongated type,' the bearded male sitting with his chin comfortably resting on his raised, right knee in a classic 'thinker' pose. Wearing a broad collar, multiple arm and leg bands, and neatly-formed coiffure ringed in a cap-like manner on the crown of his head. The figure casually holds the end of a serpentine waist sash in his left hand. Classical Nok terracotta dates between 500 BC and AD 200. It was first found in 1943 deep within a tin mine, near the present-day town of Nok, situated on the Jos Plateau in central Nigeria. The exact use of these portrait-like Nok figures has yet to be discovered; none of these sculptures has ever been found in situ and any remains of ancient structures are practically non-existent today. It has been suggested the smaller terracotta figures were ancestral effigies kept in shrines, and the larger, hollow examples possibly functioned as funerary urn lids or tomb markers. This solid terracotta example is made of a coarse, quartz-tempered clay. The features were hand-modeled and show an amazing sophistication for such an early date in Iron Age, Sub-Saharan Africa. The stylization of Nok facial features shows an amazing similarity to more historic and contemporary bronze and wooden sculptures found among the Benin and Yoruba peoples of Nigeria. It has been said these types of figures represent the beginnings of black African art. The condition of the figure is excellent, the head having been broken from the rest of the body and simply re-glued. The figure's right hand and right foot are missing, but not from recent damage. A stable stress crack exists through the pelvis region. The original burnished slip which covered this figure is still quite intact. Measuring 8.25"H x 5.50"W. Provenance: Eugene Behlen collection, NM and FL. A truly fine example. | |||||||||||||
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