Superb Ooni (King) Of Ife Bronze head. Fine Patina. Rare Example. 45cm. Nigeria.

Description: Free UPS tracked international shipping service on this item !!! Item. A beautiful and stunning Ife bronze head representing the "Ooni" or King of Ife. The Ooni of Ile-Ife, popularly shortened to Ooni of Ife, is the traditional ruler ofIle-Ife and the spiritual head of the Yoruba People because of the ancestral belief that Ile-ife is the origin of Yoruba existence and culture. The current Ooni of Ife is Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi. He is the 51st Ooni of Ife making him the traditional ruler of the Yoruba kingdom of Ile-Ife. He ascended to the throne of his forebears in 2015, succeeding the deceased Oba Okunade Sijuwade, who was the 50th Ooni of Ife. The last image in my picture gallery shows the current Ooni of Ife donning a similar traditional Crown of the Ooni to the one our head for sale wears. It is believed the Ife Bronze heads, different in representative style, to include this one depicting the Ooni, were originally created around the 13th to 14th century. Origin. The Yoruba People of Nigeria. Use. For about nine centuries, artists in West Africa have produced exquisite sculptures. local sculptors mastered and produced various work in bronze, copper, ceramics etal. Yet those innovative sculptors are best known for their work in bronze. Two prominent empires, Ife and Benin, from Nigeria, were the most important for their production of sculpture in semi-precious metal such as bronze, copper, brass and alloys. From about 1100 to 1400 CE Ife was a centre of commerce and wealthy trading destination. Home to the Yoruba people. Ancient Ife kingdom owed its power largely to its sophisticated metalworking technologies, ahead of it's time, with which artisans made weapons, farm implements, and stunning artistic objects that included sculted effigies of their rulers with this Bronze head believed to be one of such. The powerful Kings of the Yoruba were known as the Ooni. Ife is invaluably sacred to the Yoruba because of the belief it is the place where the world was created by the first Ooni, called Oduduwa. The Yorubas of Ife, exemplary possessing technology significantly advanced above of anything available then, made fine superb sculpted works in stone and ceramics, but were most famous for beautiful and naturalistic representations of human heads. These beautiful head were cast in thin metal , using the lost-wax method, with great skill and are strikingly lifelike. They are amongst the most magnificent naturalistic sculptures ever made in sub-Saharan Africa. Several examples of what is now popularly known as Ife heads were discovered accidentally in 1938 at the Wunmonije Compound, the former home of a previous Ooni of Ife, during house-building work Many Ife heads were found in the burial compound of Ooni Obalufon II, who ruled some time between 1100 and 1400. Obalufon was said to have invented Ifes casting technique, and it is thought that the heads were originally housed in a shrine dedicated to him. The head are believed to date back to the late 14thcentury and beyond that.Scholars believe that the Ife heads are portraits of kings and other powerful individuals considered by the Yoruba to be gods. Ife heads remain some of the most important work out of Sub-Saharan Africa because of their spectacular natural form plus stunningly realistic and lifelike depicting of a sculpted human head inspected from any side of an all-round 360 degree view. Description. Fine and stunning examples made with nuanced specialist skills of genuine Ife artisans. Commendable form, balance and symmetry overall. An authentic example, from it's home of creation, that has oxidized over time The fine vertical lines running down the face of the head are thought to be exaggerated caricature of the tribal facial marks of the Yorubas in the past. The head wears the traditional beaded crown of Oonis (Oba or King) of Ife that has endured even to still be in use today by the current Ooni of Ife. Some areas of thinning and metal degradation but head is in very good collector condition. Please note we can confidently assure potential buyers that we field-collect our offering diligently in Africa in their homes of creation, cultural use and ethnographic significanceto provide our buyers with African primitiveart to be gained at best value for authentic tribal treasures. Overall, this item is a beautiful and iconic tribal treasure, often described one of the most significant tribal work of art to emerge from Africa. We believe it represent a complement to any collection. Measurement. 45cmhigh x 17cm wide x 23cm deep. Weight. 5kg approx. Postage information. Please note we are a UK-based seller who trade internationally and mainly by obtaining tribal artifacts directly in their area of creation and use as we rate authenticity higher than anything else per tribal art. We sometime therefore send items, especially big and heavy items, directly from where they were field-collected as this saves duplication of cost and effort for us. Item will be sent out using a UPS courier tracked service. Tracking number , along with regularly tracking updates, will be provided. Please allow at least two weeks for delivery after payment is made. Thank

Price: 550 GBP

Location: Dagenham

End Time: 2025-01-13T09:14:59.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 GBP