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Fragment of a Kneeling Figure
Niger Delta (Inland Niger Delta region, Mali; Northern Africa and the Sahel)
11th-14th century
- Medium
- Terracotta
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- 48 × 23 × 26 cm (18 15/16 × 9 1/16 × 10 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- Mali
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Africa
- Credit line
- Maurice D. Galleher, Ada Turnbull Hertle, and Laura R. Magnuson funds
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Little is known about the meaning and function of the terracotta figures discovered in various sites around the abandoned city of Jenné-Jeno in modern Mali. Archaeological excavations revealed that figures like this partial example were set into the walls and foundations of buildings, suggesting they served a religious purpose. The loincloth and stack of bracelets on this figure indicated high social rank. The snakes wrapping around his torso are common in the iconography of the Inland Niger Delta and undoubtedly had symbolic significance.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
