Yoruba Ife at cultural peak

1175

In the forest city of Ile-Ife, the Yoruba religious and artistic capital, craftsmen produced terracotta and bronze heads of royal figures whose naturalism would startle European collectors seven centuries later. The city's urbanism and metallurgy peaked in this half-century. The Ife bronzes, cast using the lost-wax technique with an alloy of copper and zinc, represent a sculptural tradition entirely independent of European or Asian influence.