Anyi peoples, Côte d'Ivoire
Early 20th century
Terracotta
38.6 x 14 x 22.2 cm (15 3/16 x 4 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.)
2005-6-162, gift of Walt Disney World Co., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (cat. no. 63)
More/Less Information
Certain Anyi groups honored their dead with portraits in terracotta. This particular one depicts a court musician grasping a flattened cylindrical gong in his left hand. His right hand probably once held a clapper now broken off. Because he was less important than the kings and queen mothers for whom he played in life, his memorial figure maintains this hierarchy to the grave by being smaller than a royal figure and by standing rather than sitting.
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