Head
date: label: Date
content: 15th-17th century
name: label: Maker
content: Nomoli Style
label: Maker
content: Mende artist
notes: label: Label Text
content: Kissi, Mende and other peoples living in Guinea and Sierra Leone unearth several styles of stone figures and heads from their fields, streams and wells. They attribute these figures to the former inhabitants of the land or to spirits and reuse them in ancestral or agricultural shrines. Although dates have been proposed by stylistically comparing the figures and heads with export ivories and a few carbon-dated wood figures, their original makers and uses are unknown.
label: Description
content: Stone head, withe realistically carved features of eyes, nose, ears, mouth, hair and beard. The hair and beard are finely cross hatched. The eyes are closed. Carved depictions of ornaments or scarification are around the nose.
label: Exhibition History
content: Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 4, 2017-ongoing
label: Exhibition History
content: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection Highlights, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., May 21, 2009-June 4, 2014
label: Exhibition History
content: African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 15, 2007-March 31, 2009
label: Exhibition History
content: For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1981
label: Published References
content: Kreamer, Christine Mullen, Bryna Freyer and Andrea Nicolls. 2007. African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 56, 70-71, fig. 15, no. 16.
label: Published References
content: Vogel, Susan (ed). 1981. For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 62-63, no. 29.
label: Content Statement
content: As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
label: Image Requests
content: High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
place: label: Geography
content: Sierra Leone
topic: label: Topic
content: Ancestral
label: Topic
content: Agricultural
label: Topic
content: Shrine/Altar
label: Topic
content: male
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African Art Collection
label: Exhibition
content: Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts
label: On View
content: NMAfA, Second Level Gallery (2193)
label: On View
content: NMAfA, South Gallery (1141)
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Walt Disney World Co., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2005-6-56
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Stone
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 19.3 x 12.3 x 13 cm (7 5/8 x 4 13/16 x 5 1/8 in.)