The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Head
thermoluminescence date 20–620 CE

Did You Know?

This complete head’s bold modeling, deliberate asymmetry, and sensitive expression make it one of the finest known examples of Nok sculpture.

Description

This Nok terracotta is an exceptionally well-preserved large head that was probably once part of a life-size seated figure, posed with knees drawn up and chin resting on the forearm. Whether or not such heads were meant to be an early form of portraiture is unknown. There is also the possibility that these heads were to honor ancestors, and in part to communicate with the spirit world of the deceased.
  • ?-1995
    (Emile Deletaille Antiquaire, Brussels, Belgium, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1995
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1995
  • Young-Sánchez, Margaret. “An Enigmatic Terracotta.” In The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 36, no. 2 (February 1996): 9. p. 9 archive.org
    Wilkins, David G., Bernard Schultz, and Katheryn M. Linduff. Art Past, Art Present. 3rd ed. New York: Prentice Hall, 1997, 42, fig. 2-7. p. 42, fig. 2-7
    Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Cleveland Museum of Art." In African Arts 30, no. 1 (Winter 1997): 69. p. 69
    Wilkins, David G., Bernard Schultz, and Katheryn M. Linduff. Art Past, Art Present. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001, 28, fig. 2-7. p. 28, fig. 2-7
    Donley, Gregory M., "A New Face for African Art", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 42 no. 04, April 2002 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6-7 archive.org
    Petridis, Constantine. South of the Sahara: Selected Works of African Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003, 87, color plate 28. p. 87, color plate 28
    Wilkins David G, et al. Art Past, Art Present. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005, 28, fig. 2-7. p. 42, fig. 2-7
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 32
  • {{cite web|title=Head|url=false|author=|year=thermoluminescence date 20–620 CE|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1995.21