A TALE OF TWO HEADS
A Tale of Two Heads The Ife Head - The British Museum Anyone conversant with African Art and in particular, Nigerian Art would be acquainted with the Ife sculptures. According to the description on the British Museum website, these artefacts, cast in the lost wax technique (cire perdue), were discovered in 1938, at Wunmonije Compound in Ife, Nigeria. The discovery of the artefacts was by accident during house building works and included seventeen brass and copper heads and the upper half of a brass figure making eighteen artefacts in total. Notably among them is the Ife head, which currently sits at the British Museum in London. Mr Bate, an editor of the Nigerian Daily Times, purchased the head in Ife. Subsequently, Sir (later Lord) Kenneth Clark, Director of the National Gallery purchased the artefact for the British Museum in 1939 acting on behalf of the National Art Collections Fund. The Ife head features an elaborate beaded headdress, which could represent a crown, s...