“In January 1938 workmen were clearing away topsoil for house foundations when they struck metal and found a group of sculptures in the form of human heads cast in metal. The location was in Wunmonije Compound in the city of Ife, in what is now south-western Nigeria.
This accidental find led to the eventual discovery of seventeen heads in brass and copper and the broken top half of a king figure. This magnificent brass head was one of those discovered in Wunmonije Compound.
Ife began to develop as a city-state in the late first millennium, around AD 800. It became a leading political, economic and spiritual centre in the lower Niger region. Between AD 1100 and 1400 it flourished as a commercial centre with access to the lucrative trade networks along the Niger River. Today, Ife is regarded as the legendary homeland of the Yoruba-speaking peoples.”
- British Museum
Photograph by Tony Guest, taken at the Bergrummet, Stockholm, Sweden, where the piece was on loan. This particular Ife copper alloy piece belongs to the National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria, though others are kept in collections around the world.
