34 flashcard terms for AP Art History Unit 6, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 19-question quiz — free, no account needed.
Arts of Africa c. 1100–1980: works tied to leadership, spirituality, performance, and community — most fully meaningful in use, not on museum walls.
Great Zimbabwe Conical Tower
Zimbabwe, c. 1000–1400. Mortarless granite tower within the Great Enclosure of a wealthy cattle-and-gold trading capital; likely a symbolic granary of royal power.
Great Mosque of Djenné
Mali, founded c. 1200s, rebuilt 1907. World's largest mud-brick building; torons (palm beams) scaffold the annual replastering festival that renews it.
Crossing of the Replastering
Djenné's yearly community festival recoating the mosque with adobe — maintenance as collective ritual, making the whole town co-creator.
Wall Plaque from Oba's Palace
Benin, 16th c. Lost-wax brass plaque of the oba with support figures in hierarchical scale — palace decoration proclaiming royal power and court order.
Benin Bronzes
Brass plaques and commemorative heads from the Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria); looted by the British in 1897, now central to restitution debates.
Lost-Wax Casting
Metal technique in which a wax model is invested in clay and melted out, leaving a mold for molten metal — mastered by Benin and Ife casters.
Sika Dwa Kofi (Golden Stool)
Asante, c. 1700. The stool believed to house the soul of the Asante nation; it descended from the sky, never touches bare ground, and no one sits on it.
Ndop Portrait of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul
Kuba, c. 1760–1780. Idealized wooden king figure with ibol emblem; a spirit double preserving the ruler's essence, not a likeness.
Ndop
Kuba genre of commemorative royal portrait: serene, cross-legged, identified by an emblem — kingship idealized rather than individualized.
Power Figure (Nkisi N'kondi)
Kongo, late 19th c. Wooden figure activated by a ritual specialist with medicines; each driven nail or blade seals an oath or hunts a wrongdoer.
Nganga
The Kongo ritual specialist who consecrates and operates a nkisi, loading its bilongo (medicines) and driving nails to bind agreements.
Byeri Reliquary Figure
Fang, 19th–20th c. Wooden guardian seated atop a bark box of ancestral skulls; its balanced calm embodies the Fang ideal of composed vitality.
Pwo Mask
Chokwe, late 19th–early 20th c. Mask honoring the ideal founding female ancestor — danced by men in performance to teach grace and honor women.
Bundu (Sowei) Mask
Mende, 19th–20th c. Helmet mask of the Sande women's society — among the few African mask traditions danced by women, embodying ideal female beauty.
Sande Society
Mende women's initiation association that educates girls; its sowei masqueraders present the water-spirit ideal of glistening skin and elaborate coiffure.
Ikenga Shrine Figure
Igbo, 19th–20th c. Horned personal shrine of a man's right hand, power, and achievement, honored with offerings for success.
Lukasa Memory Board
Luba, 19th–20th c. Beaded and studded board 'read' by trained court historians whose hands recall royal history, migrations, and protocol.
The Luba association of court historians licensed to interpret lukasa boards — memory kept by trained bodies, not fixed texts.
Aka Elephant Mask
Bamileke (Cameroon), 19th–20th c. Beaded cloth mask with trunk-like panels and ears, danced by the elite Kuosi society; elephants and beads signal royal wealth.
Reliquary Guardian (Nlo Bieri) Function
Fang byeri guarded ancestral relics during migrations and presided over initiations — portable religion for mobile communities.
Female Pwo Scarification
The tears and cross motifs on Chokwe pwo masks record real scarification and tattoo patterns, tying ideal ancestors to lived beauty practices.
Masquerade
African mask arts are performances uniting carving, costume, music, and dance; the museum object is one component of a multimedia whole.
Torons
The bundles of palm wood projecting from Djenné's walls — permanent scaffolding for replastering and rhythmic ornament at once.
Adobe / Banco
Sun-dried earthen construction of the Western Sudan; sculptural, cool, and renewable, but demanding annual community maintenance.
Hierarchical Scale in Benin Plaques
The oba appears largest, flanked by smaller chiefs and tiny attendants — size mapping court rank precisely.
Coral and the Oba
Coral-bead regalia, controlled by the oba and shown on Benin plaques, signaled the king's link to Olokun, god of the sea and wealth.
Art and Leadership
A core unit theme: stools, staffs, portraits, and palaces materialize legitimate authority — from the Golden Stool to ndop figures.
Art in Motion
Many African works are completed by use: nkisi accumulate nails, Djenné is replastered, masks dance — process and performance over fixed form.
Restitution Debate
Ongoing argument over returning looted works (notably the Benin Bronzes) from Western museums to their communities of origin.
Ife Naturalism
Yoruba city of Ife produced strikingly naturalistic copper-alloy and terracotta heads (12th–15th c.), countering stereotypes that African art is only abstract.
Trade and Great Zimbabwe
Chinese porcelain and Persian glass excavated at Great Zimbabwe prove Indian Ocean trade reach; its wealth rested on cattle and gold routes.
Spirit Double Concept
Works like the ndop are containers or doubles for a person's essence — explaining idealization over likeness in much African portraiture.
Bilongo
The empowering medicines sealed into a nkisi's belly or head cavity, often behind a mirror, which give the figure its active force.