Also known as Ori Olokun, the Head of Ife King is a short documentary video about prehistoric Ife Arts. This is the head of the Oni , the king of Ife, wearing a crown partly painted in red to represent carnelian beads.
In the period around 1300 C.E. the artists at Ife developed a refined and naturalistic sculptural tradition in terracotta, stone and copper alloy – copper, brass, and bronze many of which appear to have been created under the patronage of King Obalufon II, the man who today is identified as the Yoruba patron deity of
The Exhibition
The head of Ife king is thought to be a portrait of a ruler known as an Ooni or Oni. From 4 March to 4 July 2010, the British Museum held a major exhibition entitled Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures of West Africa.
The exhibition displayed works of art found in Ife and the surrounding area.
About Ile-Ife
The Yorubas worldwide trace their roots to Ile-Ife – an ancient town situated in Osun State, South-West Nigeria. It’s regarded as the holy city of the Yoruba people.
Ile-Ife appears in myths as the birthplace of creation and the location where the first humans took form.
According to Yoruba mythology, the world was originally a marshy, watery wasteland. In the sky above lived many gods, including the supreme god ‘Olorun’, the owner of the Sky.