Ife copper and brass heads
Cabezas de cobre y latón de Ifé
- Date
- c. 1300 · confidence medium
- Place
- Ilé-Ifẹ̀, Osun, Nigeria
- Credited to
- Yoruba craftsmen of Ife
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Naturalistic, life-sized heads cast in brass and in almost pure copper, a metal very difficult to cast. Their realism disproved European prejudices about African art.
In 1910 Frobenius attributed the works of Ife to Atlantis; the Wunmonije find (1938) confirmed their local origin.
What it led to
- the Yoruba tradition of royal portraiture
- the technique of casting pure copper
- influence on Benin bronze casting