Nok terracotta sculpture
Escultura de terracota de Nok
- Date
- c. 500 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Nok, Kaduna, Nigeria
- Credited to
- Nok culture
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Hollow human figures of fired clay, some almost life-sized, with pierced eyes and elaborate hairstyles. They are the oldest large-scale figurative sculpture of sub-Saharan Africa.
The Goethe University Frankfurt project (Breunig and Rupp) dates the culture to c. 1500 BCE-1 CE and the sculptures from c. 900 BCE. Looting has left many pieces without context.
What it led to
- the sculptural tradition of West Africa
- the technique of firing large hollow pieces
- a disputed stylistic precedent for Ife