Head (thermoluminescence date 20–620 CE): Art, History and Details

Head (thermoluminescence date 20–620 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

More than 500 such sculptures—often full figures with elaborate hairstyles and jewelry— have been found in central Nigeria. Named after a discovery site, Nok culture (500 BCE–200 CE or 1500–1 BCE) produced the earliest large figurative artworks in Africa outside of Egypt. Little was known about their social context, as they were first found in mining deposits in the 1920s. Archaeological excavations conducted in the 2000s by a German-Nigerian team suggest that many sculptures were deliberately broken and placed under pavements and in pits, indicating ritual practice. Male-centered art histories presumed men made these figurative sculptures; however, they incorporate building and firing techniques practiced only by women.

Object facts

• Title: Head
• Date: thermoluminescence date 20–620 CE
• Culture: Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Nok-culture style region, unknown female ceramicist
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: terracotta
• Dimensions: Overall: 38.2 x 20 cm (15 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1995.21

A detail from the museum

This complete head’s bold modeling, deliberate asymmetry, and sensitive expression make it one of the finest known examples of Nok sculpture.

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Young-Sánchez, Margaret. “An Enigmatic Terracotta.” In The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 36, no. 2 (February 1996): 9.
• Wilkins, David G., Bernard Schultz, and Katheryn M. Linduff. Art Past, Art Present. 3rd ed. New York: Prentice Hall, 1997, 42, fig. 2-7.
• Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Cleveland Museum of Art." In African Arts 30, no. 1 (Winter 1997): 69.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.