The Ife bronze heads: manifestation of the ancient Yoruba metallurgical excellence

The Ife magnificent life-like bronze heads (busts) were casted in the Era of Indulgence of the Ancient Yoruba civilisation (ie between 1000BC and 1000AD). The portraitists casted the bronze heads using the lost-wax technique. The process started with a lump of clay as core, which was sculpted in fine details, which was then covered with a thin layer of wax, which then had a thin layer of copper alloy poured all over it and worked into it, and thereafter, the clay core was slid out leaving behind a thin metal sculpt. Perforations in the hairline and jaw of the casts raised a number of possibilities none of which could be excluded. One, the holes were used, in addition to linear stripes, to hold the inner clay core in place during the casting process. Two, the holes were intended for later attaching secondary elements to the cast, for example, the headwears. Three, the holes were intended for the cast to be used as mask, for example, the Obalufon Mask and other Egungun masks. Four, the holes were intended for the cast to be attached to wooden poles to hold aloft for dramatic effect at ceremonies.

A royal subject for the Ife bronze heads can be confidently ruled out on three grounds. First, the faces of the sculpted  were exposed for the world to see, something that was taboo and against the tradition (rule) that forbade the Oba exposing his face in public. Second, the sculpted had more than one headwear, which also was against tradition (rule) that imposed one crown (Ade) per Oba. Third, some figures were undoubtedly of female subjects. The unique naturalistic features and the stylistic similarities of the Ife bronze heads suggest that the portraitist in this particular instance was one individual craftsman. Similar metallurgical works have however been found in Ijebu-Ode, Owo and Osogbo, to name a few, meaning that exquisite manipulation of metals (Agbede) was commonplace in the ancient Yoruba civilisation. 

Baasegun (Dr) Olusola Oni, Leader  of the Yoruba Party in the UK (YPUK, www.yorubapartyuk.org