Memorial Head
nsodie
Year17th century
LocationMetropolitan Museum of Art
Accession No.1978.412.563 Edit this on Wikidata
IdentifiersThe Met object ID: 311024

The Memorial Head or Nsodie is a type of ceramic portrait sculpture of the Akan peoples, believed to have been created in the 17th and 18th centuries by female artists to depict royal personages.

Examples are held in major collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[1][2]

History

The Memorial Head (Nsodie) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was created in the 17th–mid-18th century. It was found in Ghana, Twifo-Heman traditional area from the Akan peoples. These heads were commissioned by the Akan peoples to memorialize royal personages before death. It was thought that elderly women artists fulfilled these commissions.[3] These heads were placed in memorial groves called asensie, or “place of the pots, ”where prayers, libations and offerings could be offered."[4][5]

Interpretation

Nsodie's depict a human head and are made of terra cotta. Scholars diffent in opinion as to whether the heads depicted specific priests, chiefs, royal personages, or if they were commemorative effigies embodying the wisdom and experience of important people. The heads are thought to stylize particular features of a personage and are not a realistic depiction.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Memorial Head (Nsodie)". Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  2. ↑ Vogel, Susan Mullin (1981). For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-87099-267-4.
  3. ↑ "Nsodia (Funerary Portrait Head): Twifo Hemang". www.imodara.com. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  4. ↑ Pencak, William (February 2000). Povey, Thomas (late 1600s–early 1700s), British colonial official. American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0101165.
  5. ↑ "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  6. ↑ "Nsodia (Funerary Portrait Head): Twifo Hemang". www.imodara.com. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
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