Horse and Rider

Former TitleEquestrian Figure

CultureDjenne

Date12th-16th century

MediumEarthenware and pigment

DimensionsOverall: 21 × 11 × 6 inches (53.34 × 27.94 × 15.24 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund and the generosity of Shirley and Barnett Helzberg

Object number2000.31

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

African Art

Terms

DescriptionThis terra cotta figure represents a male figure seated on a horse. The figure's head is tilted back, with chin raised. A cap is situated on the head, with the strip around the chin. Rows of striated lines surround the jutting eyes, the lips are parted, and the triangular nose, ears, and beard are decorated with striated lines. The arms bend at the elbows, and the hands hold the reins on both sides of the horse's head. A scabbard and a decorative ornament are located on the figure's proper left arm. A sash falls over the proper right shoulder and across the body to the proper left hip, and the figure wears a loincloth. The horse has a simple body with tubular legs. The ears are triangular, and the rudimentary eyes jut forward. Cross-hatched striations decorate the bridle, a cowrie-covered cloth is draped over the back of the head, and a bell collar is worn around the neck.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Terra d’Africa, Terra d’Archaeologica: La grande scultura in terracotta del Mali, Le center Culturel Français de Rome, May 15-July 15, 1990, no. 4.

Africa: The Art of a Continent, Royal Academy of Arts, London, October 4, 1995-January 21, 1996, no. 6.4h.

Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of Africa, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, January 30-October 26, 2020.

Gallery Label

This majestic, mounted figure is one of the oldest objects in the African collection. The idealized image of a man in the prime of life, bearded, armed and on horseback, may have served as a commemorative or devotional image of an illustrious ancestor. The wealth of ornamentation adorning horse and rider, and the prestige assigned by Djenne culture to horse ownership indicate this person's elevated status. Archaeologists believe ancestral figures played a vital role as symbols of lineage or ethnic identity in the culturally diverse, medieval trade center of Jenné-Jeno.

Provenance

Bernard de Grunne, Belgium, by May 15, 1990 [1];

D. H. collection, London, by 2000 [2];

Purchased from the D. H. collection, through L & R Entwistle & Co., Ltd., London, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2000.

NOTES:

[1] According to Cristiana Panella, in Les Terres Cuites de la Discorde: Deterrement et Ecoulement des Terres Cuites Anthropomorphes du Mali (Leiden: Research School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies, Universiteit Leiden, 2002), 183, this figure was in Bernard de Grunne’s collection at the time of its exhibition in Terra d’Africa, Terra d’Archaeologica: La grande scultura in terracotta del Mali, Le center Culturel Français de Rome, May 15-July 15, 1990, no. 4.

[2] In Bernard de Grunne, Djenné Jeno: 1000 Years of Terracotta Statuary in Mali (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014), 389, a former owner of this figure is identified as “D.H., London.” The identity of this collector is currently unknown.

Published References

Jacques Kerchache, Jean-Louis Paudrat and Lucien Stéphan,L’Art Africain, no. 18 in series Art et les grandes civilisations (Paris: Editions Citadelles, 1988), 56, 59, (repro.).

Bernardo Bernardi and Bernard de Grunne, Terra d’Africa, Terra d’Archaeologica: La grande scultura in terracotta del Mali Denné, VIII-XVI sec., exh. cat. (Rome: Fratelli Alinari, 1990), cover, 36-37, (repro.).

Laurence Garenne-Marot, “Iconographie et Archaeologie: Quand les Systemes de Harnachement Ecrivent l’Histoire,“ in Cavalieri dell’Africa: Storia, Iconografia, Simbolismo (Milan: Centro Studi Archaeologia Africana, 1995), 192, (repro.).

Tom Phillips, ed., Africa: The Art of a Continent, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1995), 493, (repro.).

Newsletter (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, November 2001), cover, 2, (repro.).

Cristiana Panella, Les Terres Cuites de la Discorde: Deterrement et Ecoulement des Terres Cuites Anthropomorphes du Mali (Leiden: Research School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies, Universiteit Leiden, 2002), 183.

Newsletter (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, April 2003), 3, (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 244, (repro.).

George Chemeche, ed., The Horse Rider in African Art (Woodbridge, UK: The Antique Collectors’ Club, 2011), 315, (repro.).

Bernard de Grunne, Djenné Jeno: 1000 Years of Terracotta Statuary in Mali (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014), 328-29, 389, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.