Bowman
- Object Name
- Bowman
- Culture / Site
- Jebba Island, Nigeria
- Medium
- Copper alloy
- Date
- 14th/15th century
- Dimensions
- Height 95 cm
- Credit Line
- National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria, 79.R19. Photograph Museum for African Art and The Fundación Marcelino Botín/Karin L. Wilis
- Section
- The Long Reach of the Sahara/Ife and Its Orbit
- Description
This figure of a man wearing woven or quilted armor and carrying a quiver on his back was found on Jebba Island in the Niger River at a critical juncture for north-south and east-west trade routes. The figure also wears a large medallion, necklaces, armlets, and anklets strung with cowrie shells. Cowries from the Indian Ocean were used as currency in parts of medieval West Africa and might have been transported overland to Central Nigeria along east-west routes or across the Sahara and down the Niger River before they could serve as an artistic reference for the creator of this figure.