The Asante, Baule, and Anyi peoples belong to the Akan culture and language group. Since the second half of the sixteenth century, two traditions of terracotta sculpture produced by Akan women have played a role in funerary rites and memorialized the dead. While relief-decorated vessels are associated with the shrines of ordinary people, freestanding figures and heads were predominantly the prerogative of royalty. Enormous stylistic diversity is reflected in forms that range from seven to ten centimeters wide to lifesize and from hollow and sculpturally rounded to solid, flat, and circular.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Memorial Head (Ntiri)
Date:17th century (?)
Geography:Ghana, Adanse traditional area, Fomena (?)
Culture:Akan peoples
Medium:Terracotta, patina(?)
Dimensions:H. 12 in. × W. 7 1/2 in. × D. 7 in. (30.5 × 19.1 × 17.8 cm)
Classification:Ceramics-Sculpture
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1964
Object Number:1978.412.352
Luther, until 1959; Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York, on loan to The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1959–1964; The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1964–1978
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "African Terra Cottas South of the Sahara," November 21, 1972-January 21, 1973.
Seattle Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–February 16, 1975.
American Federation of Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–May 15, 1977.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 23, 1975–May 4, 1975.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 8, 1975–July 20, 1975.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," August 25, 1975–October 10, 1975.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," November 9, 1975–December 21, 1975.
Toledo Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," April 11, 1976–May 25, 1976.
Walker Art Center. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 27, 1976–August 8, 1976.
Denver Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," September 10, 1976–November 7, 1976.
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 12, 1977–May 15, 1977.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, no. 341.
American Federation of Arts. Primitive Art Masterworks: an exhibition jointly organized by the Museum of Primitive Art and the American Federation of Arts, New York. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1974, no. 69.
Newton, Douglas. Masterpieces of Primitive Art: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978, p. 63.
LaGamma, Alisa. Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011, pp. 83, 88.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
