Page 178 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

thus the subdivision into stylistic areas normally the possibility that the terra-cottas were brought
indicated for ancient Malian terra-cottas is for to Owo from Ife. Stylistic considerations and the
now limited to the two large regions of the inland type of clay used (Willett 1986), however, have led
delta of the Niger and Bamako. them to conclude that the works were created
For the above reasons, the date is also difficult in Owo.
to establish. Nonetheless, measuring the thermo- Analogies with Benin sculptures are fewer but
luminescence has permitted us to place the group no less significant. One may note, for example,
of horsemen between 1240 and 1460 A.D. Bernard the vertical keloids, or scars, on the forehead,
de Grunne (Bernardi and de Grunne 1990) has typical of Benin heads of the early period, and
suggested that they were made before the spread those on a small fragment of a human head exca-
of Islam in the region. The presence of horses in vated at Owo (Eyo and Willett 1980, no. 75),
the Sudanese savannah, which was not infested by which present the same motif.
the tsetse fly, is widely documented beginning in Rowland Abiodun (1989, 99-103) believes that
the eleventh century A.D. the head exhibited here, because of its royal atti-
De Grunne suggests that "the equestrian fig- tude, could represent the legendary Oronsen,
ures probably represent some of the Kamara beautiful wife of the Olowo Renrengeyen.
Kagoro sacred ancestors, who were founders of According to Owo tradition, she disappeared into
clans, powerful sovereigns, great hunters, and the earth forever after a violent argument with
important religious figures/' He prudently her co-wives, leaving her head-wrapping in the
reminds us, however, that "the debate on both hands of those who ran after her to detain her.
the Soninke and Malinke origins of the Kagoro The head certainly shows extraordinary nobil-
is still wide open/' ity, and beyond the indisputable iconographic
One clue, even if only circumstantial, is present analogies, it is conceived with a spirit that seems
in the horseman's weaponry, the quiver and arm very different from that of the sublime, idealized
dagger, seen also in a standing figure attired simi- portraits from Ife.
larly, possibly a product of the same workshop (de The oval face under the compact hairstyle,
Grunne 1980, no. 1.14). A dagger is also attached defined by a harmonious outline, has a strong
to the arm of a reclining figure, characterized but very gentle structure. The fluid modeling is
by a soft, vaguely androgynous body, excavated at In the glorious panorama of Nigerian art, Owo, ennobled by the light diffused by the carefully
Jenne-Jeno in 1981 by Mclntosh (1988, ill. 6-8). the Yoruba city-state halfway between Ife and placed scarifications. The small wide-set eyes,
The arm dagger appears, sometimes together Benin City, was known until a few decades ago without a pupil but with a profound, disturbing
with the quiver, in certain sculptures of the only for its works in ivory and bronze. expression, the delicate nose, the very beautiful
Dogon, people who inhabit the cliff of Bandiagara Excavations conducted by Ekpo Eyo between lips hinting at a smile, the dimples at the sides of
and the underlying plain (Vogel 1985, no. 7; Ezra 1969 and 1971 at Igbo'Laja, a location about the mouth and in the chin constitute an image full
1988, no. 6; Kerchache 1988, nos. 22, 23; Robbins five hundred meters from the current center of of sensitivity, a living figure with an intensely
and Nooter 1989, nos. 32, 34, 36). These horse- the city, near the palace of the Olowo (king), moving message, composed of a system of perfect
men also wear short pants open at the thigh. These uncovered two deposits of interesting archaeolog- curves and volumes.
similarities seem to suggest the existence of a ical material. In the main deposit were the ruins Abiodun (1989, 240, note 23) has pointed out
relationship between the ancient inhabitants of of what is thought to have been a thatched-roof that "as pottery is traditionally a female occupa-
the region of the inland Niger delta and those of hut, some heads and incomplete small human tion, there is a reason to believe that Owo terra-
the Bandiagara region, possibly confirming the figures, as well as important fragments of larger cotta sculptures were made by women." Perhaps
Dogon oral tradition of a migration of peoples figures and groups. this is the context for the human tenderness of
from the Jenne area after the Songhay conquest. Among the finds, all dated to the fifteenth cen- this portrait. E.B.
Given the few elements at our disposal, the tury, were numerous terra-cottas relating to the
function and meaning of the equestrian figures, theme of the sacrificial offering of small animals,
as well as of the other terra-cottas, remain a mys- and even the theme of human sacrifice, rare in
tery. However, the creative ability and technical African art, which was represented by a basket of
skill of their makers are beyond doubt. E. B. severed heads (Eyo and Willett 1980, nos. 66-69 60
and 57). MALE HEAD
Iconographically the Owo works have elements
in common with the art of Ife and Benin and seem i$th-early i6th century?
almost to be the connecting link between the two Edo peoples, Benin kindgom, Nigeria
59 artistic traditions in the region before the arrival cast copper alloy and iron
3
FEMALE HEAD of the Europeans. 22.2 (8 / 4)
Analogies with Ife works are visible mainly in references: Elisofon and Fagg 1958, 62-65; Forman
i$th century the heads: the upper eyelids marked by a sharp and Dark 1960, 21; Fagg 1963, 32; Dark 1973, 9,18,
Yoruba people, Igbo'Laja site, Owo, Nigeria incision, the dimples at the sides of the mouth, 39; Ben Amos 1980, 18; Nevadomsky 1986; Freyer
terra-cotta the relief surrounding the lips, and the vertical 1987, i
17.4 (6%) striations lining the face. So evident are these National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian
references: Eyo and Willett 1980, 30, 55; Willett similarities that scholars who have dealt with the Institution Collection Acquisition Program, 1982
1986; Abiodun 1989, 99-103, 240, n. 23 question (Eyo and Willett 1980, 30, 55, and nos. Ancient Benin art is almost synonymous with
Nigerian National Museum, Lagos 60-61, 64; Abiodun 1989,101) have considered sculpture that is often generically called bronze.

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