About the Artwork
This majestic and dignified figure probably represents a warrior king, decked out in elaborately detailed jewelry and armed with a quiver and a distinctive type of dagger on his upper left arm. These daggers are still worn by the nomadic Tuareg people, who dominate the caravan routes crossing the Sahara Desert. It is quite possible that the warrior was originally mounted on a horse, now destroyed.
Warrior Figure
between 1300 and 1400
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African
Mande
Terracotta
Including base: 21 5/8 × 9 3/4 × 7 1/2 inches (54.9 × 24.8 × 19.1 cm) Overall: 16 3/4 × 9 3/4 × 7 inches (42.5 × 24.8 × 17.8 cm)
Sculpture
African Art
Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art
78.32
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
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Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
African Masterworks In The Detroit Institute of Arts. Washington and London, 1995, cat. no. 2.
Bulletin of the DIA 56, no. 5 (1978): 262, fig. 3.
“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement, Detroit News, April 27, 1980, 21 (ill.).
“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement, Detroit Free Press, April 18, 1982, 27 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
This work is in the public domain.
Mande, African, Warrior Figure, between 1300 and 1400, Terracotta. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art, 78.32.
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