Nok,Yoruba And Benin Art A photo Essay:

In the mood again for ancient stuff not heavy on text this time around but I hope the visuals will be kool, keeping it lite and fun enjoy.
We will start off with the "Nok" civilization, the quoted highlight is because we do not know what they called themselves, we do know that they were situated on the Jos Plateau in the village called Nok in northern Nigeria hence the name, they seemed to be an offshoot of some earlier Saharan kingdom that moved into the forest zone, and at about 1000 B.C they were among the earliest kingdoms of the forest, these folks were important as they set the pace of development for successor kingdoms and empires of the forest for hundreds of years to come.

The area called Nok.

Oprah at 500 B.C

The Alien

High official

Multiple images of mother and child??

Senior in a hoodie with what looks to be horns??

Usain Bolt

Double headed Lizard

The elephant man.

Whoever this was he was not safe to be around.

The Yoruba Empire a successor state stemming from what was known as the Nok was among the most urbanized states in Africa, the old Oyo Empire dominated states as far north as the Muslim Fulani and south as the Benin it is said they were superb calvarymen.


Bronze Head from Ife, probably a king and dated around 1300 C.E., in the British Museum.

This amazing image of a child of Obatala is very reminiscent of the Nile Valley pygmy God Bes allow for a min a comparison

Bes, both are dwarfs or pygmies both wearing a pendant of a feline skull around their necks both are great partiers

Among the best example of Yoruba art would do any Roman artist proud

This figure have an almost Asiatic look to him


The Diva we know she was


To cont

Always enjoyed your threads Spider.

The Benin Empire a contemporary of the Yorubas who put in check both the Ashanti and the Yorubas came into being from the 11th cen C.E they were formally known as the Dahomey and to have had a corps of vicious female warriors called the King's wives no male commoner may glance their presence or risked beheaded by them immediately , and while I can admire them for their art and statecraft, they were the premier slave power in west Africa, having their agents,usually of royal pedigree stationed in Europe and the Americas to keep an eye on their commercial interest, they fought tooth and nail to keep the slave trade open,they more than others knew the horrors of what was transpiring from both sides of the Atlantic, that said their more appealing side.

A christianized Benin official owing to Portuguese influence, but unlike the Kingdom of the Kongo further east none of it's King became Christian and the nation followed the religion of their ancestors which was Vodun

Head of a Crocodile

A pair of Leopards the king usually have them by his throne

Royal Beauty with braided hair

One of my favorite pieces if you look closely at the elaborate head piece you will notice that it depicts a Portuguese trader their primary trading partner from overseas. 16th cent.

King with Leopards.

Horn Blower

Leopard helmet perhaps an honored soldier

Bronze plaque of soldiers,

Horseman with javelin

Court musicians with gongs and drum

Ram mask oddly reminiscent of what you would find along the Nile.

Chalice for pouring libation

The fish king

What their court life looked like receiving visitors.
Fin.

Beautiful, beautiful artwork!!! One favor, though -- could you link some of the museums that have these collections? Often they have other delightful pieces to look at.

The child does look a bit like the late versions of Bes... however, early versions show that he is apparently derived from a lion-headed dwarf. Nobody's really sure where Bes comes from and he's one of the more ancient deities.

some of that art is phenomenal. All of it is outstanding, but there are a few pieces that rival the greatests artists of the renaissance

Thank you very much for sharing. And I agree with Byrd...would love to peruse the museums where you pulled the images from.

Thanks Byrd and Bigfurry
Here are some links
The Nok
Nok Terracottas (500 B.C.–200 A.D.) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
www.cenlafocus.com...
www.barakatgallery.com...
visualculture09.wordpress.com...
www.corbisimages.com...
This one is from a private collection^
The Yoruba And Benin
www.metmuseum.org...
medieval-illumination.blogspot.jp...
elogedelart.canalblog.com...
www.mfa.org...
The big four are the Met the Louvre The National Museum of Nigeria and Boston Museum of Fine Arts.