Copper alloy figure of an archer from Jebba Island, Niger river, in the Nupe country, Nigeria. c. 14th to 15th century

Copper alloy figure of an archer from Jebba Island, Niger river, in the Nupe country, Nigeria. c. 14th to 15th century.

At a height of 92 cm, this bowman figure is one of the largest historical copper alloy pieces from Subsaharan Africa. According to Nupe oral traditions, the legendary founder of the Nupe kingdom, Tsoede, brought 9 copper alloy pieces as well as the art of copper alloy casting with him during his flight from the Igala capital of Idah in the 16th century. 

The archer figure, as well as several other copper alloy figures from Jebba and the nearby Tada Island have sometimes been associated with the ancient Yoruba city of Ilé-Ifẹ̀, but are stylistically very different from anything found at Ife. Even the facial scarification on the archer is more similar to some of the types of scarification found among the Igbo than those found in Ife art. Perhaps indicative of Igbo mercenary activity in these locales, which were once important trade entrepôts for the Nupe, Hausa and Kede trade networks, as well as supplying the Ife Kingdom with products from the broader region and beyond. 

One of the aforementioned sculptures from Tada was dated using thermoluminescence tests to c. 1310 - 1420 AD.