The Netherlands Returns Ife Prehistoric Terracotta Head Sculpture ― Envoy

 

               Image Courtesy NAN

The government of the Netherlands has returned a prehistoric terracotta head  sculpture to the Nigerian Embassy in the Netherlands in compliance with the 1970 UNESCO Convention of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, the export of cultural property.

The terracotta head, believed to be from Ile-Ife in Nigeria, was intercepted by Dutch Customs at Schiphol Airport in 2018 in a package addressed to a Dutch national with forged accompanying import documents.  Nigerian authorities confirmed the authenticity of the object and formally requested its return.

The Embassy of Nigeria in the Hague in a statement signed by Mr. Kabiru Musa, Charge d’ Affaires at the Embassy, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, said Mrs. Maryan Hammersma Secretary-General of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science handed over the terracotta head to the embassy in a ceremony on Nov. 2 in the Hague.

Musa said that the handing-over of the Ife terracotta head by the Netherlands was a watershed event in the existing cordial relations between the two friendly countries.

He said that both countries reaffirmed their commitment to the provisions of the 1970 UNESCO Convention and also pledged to enhance and strengthen cooperation on cultural matters.

“The Ife terracotta head is the first formal return by the Netherlands to a State Party to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export, and transfer of ownership of cultural property.    “The intercepted Terracotta object, which is approximately 16 cm tall, depicts a girl or young woman with her hair tightly braided in several buns.

“A bump on the top left-sided of her head possibly represents an amulet braided into her hair. It is clear from the style of the object that it originates from Ife, Nigeria, Musa explained, saying that It is expected to be returned to the country soon.

NAN quotes the statement as saying that the artistic and traditional characteristics of the item recovered in the Netherlands, in combination with the patterns on the face, are typical of Ife heads.” Objects of this quality are exceedingly rare”.