Cleveland Museum of Art

Memorial head (nsodie)

Date

late 1600s–early 1700s

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Ghana, Akan-style sculpture, unknown female ceramicist

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This is an idealized portrait of an Akan royal. The Akan states formed in West Africa around the 1400s. Akan royal family members commissioned terracotta portraits like this from female artists during someone’s life. Following their death and burial, the family placed these sculptures in a sacred grove. The woman who sculpted this head over 300 years ago worked from memory, without sketches. The resulting sculpture combined idealized physical qualities of elite figures with individual details. The hairstyle and skin color of this portrait reflect its subject’s individuality. In contrast, his calm expression reflects the desired “cool composure” of elites. The woman who sculpted this head did so without making a sketch, working from her memory of the subject.

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