Ghana, Akan-style sculpture, unknown female ceramicist / late 1600s–early 1700s
Memorial head (nsodie)
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Memorial head (nsodie) as sculpture (Ghana, Akan-style sculpture, unknown female ceramicist · late 1600s–early 1700s).
The woman who sculpted this head did so without making a sketch, working from her memory of the subject.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this sculpture as Terracotta.
The museum's collection notes: 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 composur
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The Cleveland Museum of ArtMemorial head (nsodie)Original explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.