IFE DATING

Although the most famous sculptures from Ife are the bronzes, they constitute only a small percentage of the Ife art corpus and, so far, none of them has been satisfactorily dated. Only twenty-one bronze sculptures are known and they come from only three sites, viz: Wunmonije Compound, Ita Yemoo and Jgbo Olokun.
On the other hand, the terracotta works, which are in the same style as the bronzes, are more widespread spatially and far more numerous. Does this indicate that more people were allowed the use of the terracotta sculptures while the bronzes were confined to a few wealthy or royal families? It is possible that bronze alloys were scarce at this time and that would make such a restriction necessary. Frank Willett is of the opinion that the terracotta and stone works of Ife started earlier and went on later than the bronze castings.
But Ife art, whether in bronze or terracotta, must have started at some time and ended at some point, because it is no longer being practiced. Some unsuccessful attempts have been made to explain its beginning by relating it to Nok art, but these explorations have received only vague attention. On the other hand speculations are rife about its supposedly abrupt end.

IFE Culture