Djenne fragment - Figura - djenne - djenne - Mali

Among the earliest known examples of art from sub-Saharan Africa are terracotta figures like this one from the inland delta of the Niger River, near the present-day home of the Dogon and Bamana peoples. Inhabited since 250 BC., Djenné became a market center and an important link in the trans Saharan gold trade. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it was one of the centres for the propagation of Islam.

Provenance: Jean-Michel Huguenin, Paris