Nsodie (Memorial Portrait)
Akan
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
The Akan of southern Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire made terracotta heads and figures as memorials to important deceased individuals. A head such as this one would be installed in the asensie, or “place of the pots,” outside of the village. This terracotta genre, observed among the Akan by Europeans in the 1600s, continued through the early twentieth century.
Caption
Akan. Nsodie (Memorial Portrait), 17th or 18th century. Terracotta, 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Eugene Becker, 76.161. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Culture
Title
Nsodie (Memorial Portrait)
Date
17th or 18th century
Geography
Place made: Ghana
Medium
Terracotta
Classification
Dimensions
8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Eugene Becker
Accession Number
76.161
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