Smithsonian Libraries African Art Index Project DSI Search this
Type:
Articles
Place:
Mali
Inland Niger Delta
Inland Niger Delta (Mali)
Date:
1999
Notes:
Color illustrations, maps.
A search for the origin of terracottas, the so-called Jenne terracottas, that first emerged from a number of sites in the Inland Niger Delta in the early 1900s. Numerous investigations continue to produce contradictory findings.
The writer traces the origins of the "Djenne terracottas," sculptures found in the Inland Niger River Delta, Mali. She chronicles the known history of the area and the context for the creation of the sculptures, which was the medieval city of Djenne, a powerful trade center in the Kingdom of Mali. She discusses several aspects of the sculptures, including the element of the serpent and the equestrian, single, joined, and maternity figures. She notes that the idea of the fusing of snake and human in the statuary of the delta perhaps owes its ultimate origin to Egyptian religious thought.
