Funerary Marker – Dakakari – Terracotta- Nigeria

Unique Dakakri funerary marker from Nigeria.

The Dakakari, established in the north-west of Nigeria, made these terracotta figures which they placed on ancestral graves.

“The custom was to block the tombs with terracotta slabs. For the dignitaries of the most elaborate burials, this made it easy to recognize the places in order to pay their respects. The themes proposed are mostly the same: the rider and his mount, animals such as the hyena or the dromedary, sometimes a naked figure, accompanying him from the Dead in the afterlife. The style of work can sometimes differ from region to region, depending on terracotta and the type of cooking. The pôteries depicting a horseman indicated the burials of the highest officers in SARAUTA system, the union of the Hausa states in the 15th and 16th centuries, who reigned supreme over these regions of Nigeria and were enriched by the sale of “recruited” slaves from the southern populations, of Niger-Cogolese languages.”

Provenance: Manfred Schäfer, former gallery owner from Ulm, Germany.