BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Ghana; Asante artist Vessel Early-mid 20th century Ceramic H x W x D: 25.4 x 21 x 21 cm (10 x 8 1/4 x 8 1/4 in.) Gift of Emil Arnold 69-35-36 Photograph by Franko Khoury National Museum of African Art Smithsonian Institution Among the Akan-speaking peoples of southern Ghana and adjacent Côte d’Ivoire, ritual pottery and figurative … Continue reading AKAN ARTS (part one)
BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Guinea-Conakry, Sierra Leone; Nomoli Style Male figure 15th-17th century Steatite H x W x D: 16.2 x 8.6 x 10.8 cm (6 3/8 x 3 3/8 x 4 1/4 in.) Museum purchase 85-1-2 Photograph by Franko Khoury National Museum of African Art Smithsonian Institution Figures such as this, carved of soft steatite or soapstone, are frequently found by … Continue reading SIERRA LEONE STONE FIGURE
Great Zimbabwe is the name of the stone ruins of an ancient city near modern day Masvingo, Zimbabwe. People lived in Great Zimbabwe beginning around 1100 C.E. but abandoned it in the 15th century. The city was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, which was a Shona (Bantu) trading empire. Zimbabwe means “stone houses” in Shona. Great Zimbabwe was part of a large and wealthy global … Continue reading Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe was part of a large and wealthy global trading network. Archaeologists have found pottery from China and Persia, as well as Arab coins in the ruins there. The elite of the Zimbabwe Empire controlled trade up and down the east African coast. However, the city was largely abandoned by the 15th century as the Shona people migrated elsewhere. The exact reasons for the abandonment … Continue reading Great Zimbabwe is the name of the stone ruins of an ancient city near modern day Masvingo, Zimbabwe.
BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Nigeria; Edo artist (Benin Kingdom Court Style) Plaque Mid 16th-17th century Copper alloy H x W x D: 47 x 34.2 x 8.2 cm (18 1/2 x 13 7/16 x 3 1/4 in.) Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn to the Smithsonian Institution in 1979 85-19-18 Photograph by Franko Khoury National Museum of African Art Smithsonian Institution Figures appear in … Continue reading ARTS OF BENIN KINGDOM(part eight)
BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Nigeria; Benin Kingdom artist Figure Bronze H. 63.5 cm (25”) National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria, 54.15.8 Photo by Dirk Bakker This type of figure was apparently also kept on the royal ancestral altars. An anonymous author in the Royal Gold Coast Gazette wrote in the 1820s, “The tombs are decorated by as many large elephant’s teeth as can be … Continue reading ARTS OF BENIN KINGDOM(part seven)
BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Nigeria; Benin Kingdom artist Equestrian figure Bronze H. 47 cm (18 1/2″) Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Walter B. Ford II, 1992.290 From an 1823 account of the explorer Giovanni Belzoni and an accompanying sketch, we have one of the few descriptions and drawings of altars of the Kings of Benin before 1897, when all were dismantled. … Continue reading ARTS OF BENIN KINGDOM(part six)
BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Nigeria; Benin Kingdom artist Queen Mother head Bronze H. 51 cm (20”) National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria, 70.R.17 Photo by Dirk Bakker Oba Esigie, the sixteenth king who ruled at the beginning of the sixteenth century, created the title of Queen Mother. His mother, Idia, was said to have had particularly potent occult skills and military savvy that helped … Continue reading ARTS OF BENIN KINGDOM(part five)
BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Nigeria; Benin Kingdom artist Head of an Oba Bronze H. 29.2 cm (11 1/2″) Indiana University Art Museum, 75.98 Other types, however, are indisputably commemorative heads to be placed on the altars of former kings. Carved ivory tusks are placed in the top, for ivory was another material reserved for royalty, and there are special guilds of artists … Continue reading ARTS OF BENIN KINGDOM (part four)
BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Nigeria; Edo artist (Benin Kingdom Court Style) Commemorative trophy head Late 15th-early 16th century Copper alloy, iron inlay H x W x D: 23.2 x 15.9 x 20 cm (9 1/8 x 6 1/4 x 7 7/8 in.) Purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program 82-5-2 Photograph by Franko Khoury National Museum of African Art … Continue reading ARTS OF BENIN KINGDOM(part three)
Alkebulan Republic 