Dakakari culture, Nigeria, ca. 19th to 20th century CE. This incredible, large, hollow pottery figure shows a four-legged, horned animal (maybe a hartebeest?) with ears erect and a collar of some kind around its neck; it stands perched atop a bulbous rough sphere. Pottery of this kind was observed in Dakakari graveyards through the 1940s, but it recalls that of the Sokoto (among others), the ancestors of the Dakakari who lived 2000 years ago in the same part of Nigeria. Ethnographic accounts say that some graves had up to fifteen pieces of pottery like this placed around them; these were frequently broken and a description from a Dakakari graveyard in 1944 by a visiting Englishman laments the scattered pottery around the area -- but this destruction was certainly intentional. Dakakari women were the potters and passed their skills down via their daughters. This piece is genuinely unique and astonishing, probably my favorite of our African collection in this auction. Size: 7.5" W x 26" H (19 cm x 66 cm).

Provenance: Ex. Peter Arnovick Collection

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#112549

Intact, with some wear to slip, but decoration and features are clear.