Technical case study:
A monumental Nok terra cotta sculpture
Sarah Barack
Summer Teachers Institute
in Technical Art History
The object suffered a catastrophic accident, leaving it in 50+ fragments, or sherds
During treatment, before fills were made to compensate for losses
(note the visible break edges in the head, face, and leg)
Examples of Nok figures, with schematic drawing of a Nok fragment above
CT Scan of Nok figure
Note multiple fragments contained within the object, not visible during
examination under visible light
Note highly stylized features and pierced pupils/nostrils
Coiling a pot, a traditional
ceramic working technique
Open-pit firing, note the uneven heat
and stacking of the pieces
Interior of the “Nok” sculpture; note the
similarities between the coiling image above
and the ring around the bottom of the stool
seen here
Sherd from “Nok” sculpture; note the thick, brown
adhesive line
Back of the “Nok” sculpture, view
into head section before hair
reattached
Technical Study
• FTIR (Fourier Transform
Infra-red Spectroscopy)
• CT Scanning (Computer
Tomography
• Thermoluminescence
Dating (TL)
FTIR
CT Scan
The sculpture entering the CT scanner,
as seen from the control room
A scan image, capturing surface detail;
note the break edges identifying
individual sherds
CT Scan
CT Scan images; arrows connote the small, square fragment present on the back of
the sculpture
TL Dating
Note presence of holes in the middle of the square fragment
Technical case study:
A Nok monumental terra cotta sculpture
THANK YOU to
AXA Art for their support of this project