Dakakari (Dakarkari) Funerary Terracotta Figure

This rare terracotta funerary figure was created by the Dakakari (Dakarkari) people of northwest Nigeria, a small ethnic group best known for their highly distinctive burial sculptures. Such figures were traditionally placed on the grave mounds of important individuals, including village heads, war heroes, renowned hunters, and senior members of the Oknu men’s society.

Dakakari pottery — including ritual and funerary sculpture — is exclusively made by women, with religious knowledge transmitted within specific families from mother to daughter. These sculptures were never produced for trade, but solely for ceremonial and commemorative purposes.

The figure is executed using the traditional coil (ring-building) technique, with joints concealed beneath decoratively shaped clay bands. Human features are rendered schematically: limbs are abbreviated, anatomy implied rather than described, and the mouth is open — a feature interpreted locally as a sign of mourning. The absence of legs is likely due to loss over time, a condition not uncommon for terracotta figures originally placed outdoors on burial mounds.

Examples of Dakakari funerary sculpture are scarce and increasingly difficult to find, particularly with documented European collection provenance. This piece, from the Breughelmans collection, represents an authentic and culturally significant work from a little-known but important sculptural tradition of Nigeria.

About the Price and Authenticity

Dakakari terracotta funerary sculptures belong to a highly specific and historically documented tradition and were never produced for trade. Because these works fall outside the mainstream of African art collecting and require considerable ethnographic knowledge to identify, they have not been subject to systematic reproduction or forgery.

Authentic examples therefore appear only sporadically on the market, most often through older European collections. This sculpture, offered at €1,650, reflects its ritual origin, its documented provenance from the Breughelmans collection, and its close correspondence with published examples held in museum and scholarly collections.

The price also takes into account the hand-built terracotta technique, the sculpture’s age, and the fact that such figures were traditionally exposed on burial mounds, making intact and well-preserved examples increasingly uncommon.