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Ibeji Twin figures, Nigeria
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Ibeji twin figures
Importance: Ibeji is the orisha of twins |
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| Shona Headrest, Zimbabwe 20th century |
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Kente Cloth Mmaaban (Unity is Strength), 20th century, Ghana
Culture/Country:Ghana
Name/Title: Kente Cloth (Mmaaban, Unity is strength)
Importance:cloth that is made woven strips, to tell a story, symbolize status, used in celebratory events. The meaning/intention of the cloth changes depending on the color and symbols on it |
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Satirical Egungun Masquerade, European couple, Nigeria, 1982
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: European couple in a Egungun masquerade
Importance: a satirical representation of a European couple for an Egungun masquerade |
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Egungun Mask, Nigeria, 1920s
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Egungun Mask
Importance: a mask used for dance/performance during a masquerade |
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Asantehene, Golden Stool, 1986, Ghana
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Golden Stool
Importance:holds the essence of the Akan people. Does not have an owner and is not used as a stool. Considered to be alive and to hold spiritual power. |
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Prestige Stool, Ghana
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Prestige Stool
Importance: Used by royalty and important people. Carved from a single piece of wood. Blackened and placed in a shrine when its owner dies. Symbols not literally read, convey ideas. |
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Finger ring, asante, Ghana
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Finger ring
Importance: |
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Graphite Sphinx Taharqo, 7th century BC
Culture/Country: Kush/Nubia
Name/Title: Graphite Sphinx (Taharqo)
Importance: |
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Clay pots and figurines, 200-1500 B.C., Nubia
Culture/Country: Nubia
Name/Title: Clay pots and figurines
Importance: |
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Kerma, Eastern Deffufa Plan
Culture/Country: Kerma in Nubia
Name/Title: Eastern Deffufa
Importance: |
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Kerma, Western Deffufa
Culture/Country: Kerma in Nubia
Name/Title: Western Deffufa
Importance: one of the oldest existing structures in sub-Saharan Africa. Dominated town layout primary temple in the town, as large as the Egyptian pyramids. Connected to Kingship/royalty |
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Pyramids of Meroe, 8th century BC- 4th century AD
Culture/Country: Meroe
Name/Title: Pyramids of Meroe
Importance: |
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Kushite Statue of a Woman, 2-3rd century AD
Culture/Country: Kush/Nubia
Name/Title: Kushite Statue of woman
Importance: |
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Nubian artist, shield rings, gold, 50 B.C.E.
Culture/Country: Nubia
Name/Title: Shield rings
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Lion Temple, one of the Meriotic temples of Naqa
Culture/Country: Meroe
Name/Title: Lion Temple
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Temple of Apademak, 10 BC
Culture/Country: Meroe
Name/Title: Temple of Apademak
Importance: head of Nubia, Lion of the south, built with Egyptian techniques, evidence of iron smelting. |
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Dogon Female Figure with mortar and pestle, 16th-20th centuries, wood
Culture/Country: Dogon/ Mali
Name/Title: Female figure with mortar and pestle
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Senufo, Mask, Poro association, 19th/early 20th centuries
Culture/Country: Senufo
Name/Title: Mask
Importance: |
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Dogon, Carved door, late 19th/early 20th centuries
Culture/Country: Dogon/Mali
Name/Title:Carved door
Importance: |
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Tellem/Dogon, Figure with Raised Arms, wood, date unknown
Culture/Country: Tellem/Dogon/Mali
Name/Title: Figure with raised arms
Importance: figures with raised arms are common in Dogon art and indicate praying/communication with a deity |
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Tellem, Figure with Raised Arms, 11-15th centuries
Culture/Country: Tellem/Mali
Name/Title: Figure with raised arms
Importance: figures with raised arms are common in Dogon art and indicate praying/communication with a deity |
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Dogon funerary masquerade, 2002
Culture/Country: Dogon/Mali
Name/Title: Funerary masquerade
Importance: |
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Dogon, Ram, Iron Sculpture n.d. (no date)
Culture/Country: Dogon/Mali
Name/Title: Ram
Importance: |
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Dogon, Standing figure with raised arms, wood, 16-20th centuries
Culture/Country: Dogon/Mali
Name/Title: Standing figure with raised arms
Importance: figures with raised arms are common in Dogon art and indicate praying/communication with a deity |
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Dogon, Female Standing figure with raised arm, wood
Culture/Country: Dogon/Mali
Name/Title: female standing figure with raised arms
Importance: figures with raised arms are common in Dogon art and indicate praying/communication with a deity |
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Dogon, Seated Couple, 16-19th centuries, wood
Culture/Country: Dogon/Mali
Name/Title: Seated Couple
Importance: Couples/duality are a prevalent theme in Dogon art |
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Dogon, Equestrian Figure, 16-17th centuries, wood
Culture/Country: Dogon/Mali
Name/Title: Equestrian figure
Importance: Equestrian themed figures are very prevalent in Dogon art |
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Kanaga Mask (Dama Masquerade)
Culture/Country: Dogon/Mali
Name/Title: Kanaga Mask
Importance: Kanaga masks are abstract masks that have 4 parts shaped like a cross. They may represent male-female pairing |
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Poro Masquerade Figure, 1980s
Culture/Country: Ivory Coast/The Western Sudan/Senufo
Name/Title: Poro Masquerade Figure
Importance: |
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Senufo, Wooden Linguist Staff, early 19-20th century, wood
Culture/Country: Senufo/The Western Sudan
Name/Title: Linguist Staff
Importance: signals agricultural success, kept by elders, female figure is the symbol of abundance and productivity |
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Senufo, Mother and Child figure, wood, c. 1930
Culture Country: Senufo/The Western Sudan
Name/Title: Mother and Child Figure
Importance: shows the importance of women/mothers in the culture/head of the poro |
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Senufo, Diviner’s Shrine, 1979
Culture/Country: Senufo/The Western Sudan
Name/Title: Diviner's Shrine
Importance: a sacred space where special objects are stored and where the diviner practices |
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Senufo, Turtle Amulet (Yawiige), Copper alloy, 19-20th centuries
Culture/Country: Senufo/The Western Sudan
Name/Title: Turtle Amulet
Importance: an brass amulet created to appease the deities on the advice of Sando (Sandogo diviners) |
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Nowo Masquerade, 1980
Culture/Country: Mende/Sierra Leone
Name/Title: Nowo Masquerade
Importance: |
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Sande Mask wood and raffia, 19th century
Culture/Country: Sande/The Western Sudan
Name/Title: Mask
Importance: |
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Sapi-Portuguese Salt Cellar, Ivory, 15-16th centuries
Culture/Country: Benin
Name/Title: Sapi-Portuguese Salt Cellar
Importance: indicative of Portuguese incursion into Benin. Many were commissioned by them and therefore their styles/imagery was often incorporated into them |
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Adinkra Cloth, Ghana, 1977
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Adinkra Cloth
Importance: mourning cloth that conveys the relationship of the wearer to the desceased |
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Adinkra symbol, “except God,” meaning the wearer is afraid of nothing except God
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Adinkra Symbol "Except God"
Importance: symbol conveying that the wearer is afraid of nothing except God |
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Wooden prestige stool, Ghana, 19th century
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Prestige Stool
Importance: carved from a piece of wood, only used by royalty/important people, the center of political power |
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Wooden prestige stool, Ghana, 19th century
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Prestige Stool
Importance: carved from a piece of wood, only used by royalty/important people, the center of political power |
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Linguist staff, Ghana, 19th century, okyea mepoma
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Linguist Staff
Importance:embody the visual-verbal nexus by conveying complex ideas through symbols, used by the linguist as the master communicator |
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Akan gold weights, brass
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana/Ivory Coast
Name/Title: Gold weights
Importance:brass figures used to measure gold. Are indicative of interaction/gold trade with North African Muslim cultures |
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Kente Cloth, mmeda—something that has not happened before
Culture/Country: Ghana
Name/Title: Kente cloth (mmeda: something that has not happened before)
Importance: cloth that is made woven strips, to tell a story, symbolize status, used in celebratory events. The meaning/intention of the cloth changes depending on the color and symbols on it |
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Adinkra cloth, Ghana, 1977
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Adinkra cloth
Importance: mourning cloth, symbolizes the mourner's relationship with the deceased. Stamped cotton cloth |
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Asante, Akunitan Cloth, Ghana, 20th century
Culture/Country: Akan/Ghana
Name/Title: Akunitan cloth
Importance: "cloth of the great" shows royal power and wealth |
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Yoruba, Bowman in hunting clothes. 14th-15th centuries, bronze
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title:Bowman in hunting clothes
Importance: |
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Yoruba, Archaic period, Opa Oranmiyan (staff of Oranmiyan)
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Opa Oranmiyan (Staff of Oranmiyan)
Importance: example of archaic period art, the staff of Oranmiyan, the son of Oduduwa who founded Yoruba |
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Yoruba, Idena (The Gatekeeper), Pre-Pavement, c. 800
Country/Culture: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Idena (the Gatekeeper)
Importance: example of pre-pavement era art, shows more naturalistic forms being used. The gatekeeper was in between you and communing with your deity |
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Yoruba, Cylindrical Head, terra cotta, 13-14th century
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Cylindrical head
Importance: an abstract representation of the inner head (Ori Inu). Purposefully non-distinct as it cannot be accurately captured |
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Yoruba, Head of a Queen, terra cotta, Pavement Period
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Head of a Queen
Importance: a representation of the outer head (Ori Ode) |
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Yoruba, Oni Bronze Head, 12th century
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Oni Bronze Head
Importance: Stylized to represent physical ideal,Striations not scarification, attached to an altar |
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Yoruba, Brass Head
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Brass Head
Importance: stylized to represent the ideal |
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Yoruba, Pair of Figures, Brass, 11-12th centuries
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Pair of Figures
Importance: represent twins |
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Yoruba, Owo, Figure of a man, terra cotta, 15th century
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Figure of a man
Importance: an example of art from one of the chief mediums/materials in Owo |
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Yoruba, Owo, One of a pair of double cylinder bracelets, ivory, 17th century
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Bracelets
Importance: example of udamalore, prestige weapon worn by important men in the community. Made of ivory, expensive and intricate. |
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Yoruba, Owo, udamalore, ivory,
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Udamalore
Importance:prestige weapon worn by important men in the community |
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Yoruba, Headdress: Bird on the top of beaded crown of the Orangun-Ila has long white feathers of the Okin Ila-Orangun, Nigeria, 1977
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Beaded crown/headdress
Importance: signify the sacred king (birds a symbols, references to mothers/women) |
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Yoruba, Ogboni Society Drum (Agba), 1890s
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Ogboni Drum
Importance: Used by the secret society that keeps kings in check |
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Yoruba, Ogboni Society Elder Wearing Edan and Title-Cloth
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Ogboni Society Elder Wearing Edan and Title-Cloth
Importance:member of the ogboni society |
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Yoruba, Shango Wooden Ax Figure, 20th Century, Nigeria
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Shango Wooden Ax Figure
Importance: Dual headed axe that represents the orisha shango, the orisha of thunder and lightning |
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Ibeji Memorial Twin Figure, 20th Century, Nigeria
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Memorial Twin figure
Importance: pays homage to the importance of twins in Nigerian culture and the twin orisha ibeji of vitality and youth |
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Yoruba, Ibeji Figures, 1988, Nigeria
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Ibeji Figures
Importance: pays homage to the importance of twins in Nigerian culture and the twin orisha ibeji of vitality and youth |
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Yoruba, Cylindrical Head, terra cotta, 13-14th century
Culture/Country: Yoruba/Nigeria
Name/Title: Cylindrical head
Importance: an abstract representation of the inner head (Ori Inu). Purposefully non-distinct as it cannot be accurately captured |
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