Kreamer, Christine Mullen and Adrienne L. Childs (eds). 2014. Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue from the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. xix, 113, no. 7, pl. 43.
Kreamer, Christine Mullen and Adrienne L. Childs (eds). 2014. Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue from the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 102, 113, no. 64, pl. 42.
As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If
Since the 1940s, low-fired ceramic figures and fragments such as this have been unearthed at various sites throughout the Inland Niger Delta region, an area that once had highly developed urban centers. These works are among the earliest known surviving art forms in sub-Saharan Africa. The makers were from the various peoples in the region, but it is not known whether they were men or women. Using
Vogel, Susan (ed). 1981. For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 234, no. 145.
Since the 1940s, low-fired fragments of ceramic figures have been unearthed at various locations throughout the Inland Niger Delta region, an area that once had highly developed urban centers. The majority of the ceramics have appeared on the market without any excavation documentation and are among the earliest known surviving artforms in sub-Saharan Africa dating from the 11th to 17th centuries.
Farmers among the Kissi people of Guinea sometimes find stone statues in their fields. Most are cylindrical in overall outline and human in subject. They are not made by the Kissi and are described by them as "pomdo," the dead or images of the dead. The identity of the specific ancestor is revealed in a dream and the figure receives sacrifices, offerings and is placed with others on an altar. Some
In most of Africa, flywhisks were carried as prestige regalia and during masquerades. They emphasized both gestures and spoken words. Their materials tended to be made of inherantly status conferring materials. For example this flywhisk that was once owned by Emperor Theodor (1855-1868) of Ethiopia is made of richly dyed horsehair. The horse is associated with military success and is valued in dir
In most of Africa, flywhisks were carried as prestige regalia and during masquerades. They emphasized both gestures and spoken words. Their materials tended to be made of inherantly status conferring materials. For example this flywhisk that was once owned by Emperor Theodor (1855-1868) of Ethiopia is made of richly dyed horsehair. The horse is associated with military success and is valued in dir