Module 10 Africa

 

Seated figure, 13th century, Mali, Inland Niger Delta (Djenné peoples), terracotta, 25.4 x 29.9cm 

This is a seated terracotta figure. The figure is on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As you can see, the figure has brought their right leg up and is resting it on the left leg. As the figure wraps their arms around their crossed leg, they rest their head down on top of their knee. The position the figure's head is at looks quite uncomfortable. Not to mention the position of their legs. I tried to mimic this pose exactly  and it was giving me a very uncomfortable stretch alongside my hip. The shape of the figure's body creates a lot of movement in this piece. The curves guide your eyes  around the body. This piece really allows the viewer to experience empathy. While looking at this figure, I can really feel the weight and strain of this position. This is a very expressive piece. The face leads me to think the figure feels ill. A hypothesis is that it  represents a diseased individual or an individual healing from disease. Scholars determined this because of the dates pieces like this were created and the areas where they were made. This figure specifically is showing symptoms of some type of illness. The figure has large blobs that are raised on its back. Also on the back of the figure (not pictured) there are incised circles in between the blob forms. These blobs could be a dramaticsed representation of pustules, cysts  or blisters of some sort. Other terracotta figures created within this date range and place tend to have a thicker torso and thighs while their shins, claves, and feet are smaller and unproportional. Many figures also had distorted and elastic legs. This made scholars think of polio which then again raises the question, is this a representation of disease or illness. 

Because most of these figures have been looted, there isn’t much information on them. There is also a very wide date range for them because there are not many objects like this piece. Because there is not too much context behind these pieces, we will never fully understand why figures like this were created, what they were used for, etc.

Dr. Kristina Van Dyke and Dr. Steven Zucker, "Lost History: the terracotta sculpture of Djenné-Djenno," in Smarthistory, September 8, 2017, accessed November 1, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/lost-history-the-terracotta-sculpture-of-djenne-djenno/.