Ife bronze and terracotta sculpture

E55736

Ife bronze and terracotta sculpture refers to the highly naturalistic and technically sophisticated royal and ritual artworks produced in ancient Ile-Ife, a major cultural and spiritual center of the Yoruba people in present-day Nigeria.


Statements (49)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Yoruba art
archaeological culture
artistic tradition
associatedWith Ile-Ife
Ooni of Ife
Yoruba kingship
Yoruba religion
culture Yoruba
depicts Yoruba rulers
deities and sacred figures
ritual specialists
royal personages
foundAt Ife archaeological sites
Ita Yemoo
Tede
Wunmonije compound
function representation of sacred kingship
ritual use
royal commemoration
hasCharacteristic highly naturalistic
ritual function
royal iconography
technically sophisticated
hasGenre portrait sculpture
ritual object
royal regalia
hasMaterial brass
bronze
clay
copper alloy
terracotta
inCollectionOf British Museum
Ife Museum
National Museum Lagos
influenced Benin court art
later Yoruba court art
locatedIn Southwestern Nigeria
present-day Nigeria
notableWork Ife bronze heads
Ife terracotta heads
Ori Olokun head
producedBy Yoruba artists
producedIn Ile-Ife
recognizedAs major achievement of African art
timePeriod circa 11th to 15th century CE
medieval period in West Africa
usesTechnique hollow casting
lost-wax casting
modeling in clay

Referenced by (4)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Ife bronze and terracotta sculpture ("Ife bronze heads")
Ife bronze and terracotta sculpture ("Ife terracotta heads")
notableWork
Ife Kingdom ("Ife art")
artStyle
Yoruba
artTradition

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