African Portraits

Recreated clothing of kings, royal mothers and a bishop. Nubia - 10th and 12th C.

Salt cellar with Portuguese (Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga 750 Esc). Nigeria – 16th C.

              While the figures are themselves European, the textile patterns are Nigerian.


Men's Portraits

Head of an ọ́bà (The Met 1979.206.86). Nigeria - early 15th-mid-16th C.

Lidded salt cellar (The Met 1991.435a, b). Sierra Leone - ca. 1490-1530 

Gwantigi (The Met 1983.600a, b). Mali - 15th-17th C.

Bronze plaque (LACMA M.74.90). Mali - 16th-17th C.

Court official from a commemorative altar (The Met 1991.17.32). Nigeria - 16th-17th C.

Male figure (Israel Museum B17.1565). Nigeria – 16th-17th C.

 

Women's Portraits

Gwandusu (The Met 1979.206.121). Mali - 15th-17th C.

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