Grave sculpture "elephant" · Nigeria, Dakakari · ID: 3050905
Neumeister, Munich, “Sammlung / Collection Dr. Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler”, Part 2, 15 October 2009, Lot 1325
Helmut Bruchner, Munich, Germany
Description
terracotta, rest., base
In the history of art, the Dakakari have become known for their terracotta grave sculptures, which are placed on the burial places of important personalities.
Allen Bassing, who carried out field research on this subject in the 1970s, was able to distinguish six categories of grave sculptures, of which the elephant is the largest and most expensive variant.
Bassing wrote: “Ordinary men have plain mounds with common household pottery on them. However, if a man is important, wealthy, or has done something signifant in his lifetime, his family mound will be honored in two ways: it will be encircled with roughly dressed flat stones, and it will have grave sculpture as well as household pottery placed on it”.
Comparing literature
Allen Bassing, "Grave Monuments of the Dakakari", in: African Arts, Summer 1978, Vol. VI, no 4, p. 36-39
Publications
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich 2009, p. 166AHDRC: 0099438