The winner of this competition is awarded a wooden cultivator's staff. A seated female figure is carved at the top of the staff; it symbolizes both the power of humans to reproduce and the fertility of the soil. The Akan of Ghana and neighboring countries are noted for their Kente cloth, carved wooden stools, gold jewelry, and gold-plated wood carvings. The privilege of wearing gold once belonged to the king and his court alone and was a sign of the prosperity and well-being of his kingdom. Akan rulers wore so much gold that they inspired the proverb, Great men move slowly.Among the Hausa of northern Nigeria, members of the male aristocracy wear a riga, which is a beautifully embroidered robe of honor. Rigas are decorated with stylized Arabic writing that refers to Dhu l'Fakar, an Islamic prophet. Hausa men wear the riga to indicate their piety as Muslims, their wealth, and their high social status. A2Nok Sculptures Among the oldest surviving art objects of western Africa are fragments of Nok terracotta sculptures found in central Nigeria; these works date from 500 BC to AD 200.
The fragments are primarily from human and animal figures, some of which were probably attached to large pots. The human figures range in size from about 10 cm to more than 120 cm . Patterns in the clay represent elaborate hairstyles, jewelry, and clothing. A3Kingdom of Benin The ancient Kingdom of Benin, centered in Benin City in what is now southern Nigeria, produced impressive cast bronze sculpture, ivory carvings, and other art. When Europeans first reached the area in the late 15th century, they found a complex and expanding kingdom with which they established trade and diplomatic links. Although British soldiers looted and burned the old Benin City when they annexed it to British Nigeria in 1897, descriptions of the city's splendor, as well as many artifacts, survive. The king of Benin, known as the oba, had an especially impressive palace. At one time its walls were covered with beautiful cast bronze plaques that were said to shimmer like gold. The plaques depicted aspects of warfare, court and ritual customs, and merchants and soldiers from Portugal. The three main buildings at the palace were each topped by immense turrets supporting giant bronze birds and pythons. On the royal palace altars, bronze memorial heads and sculptures were displayed for private and state festivities. The bronze casters who provided the palace with these objects belonged to a hereditary guild, as did the royal ivory carvers, who carved tusks to be displayed on ancestral altars as well as ivory regalia for the king. A pair of ivory leopards inset with copper spots stood on either side of the king on state occasions.
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