The Nok culture is defined largely on the basis of its superb terracotta artworks. Flourishing between 900 BC and 200 AD, the Nok culture is in fact a myth – the Nok is a tradition, a style of manufacture that was adopted by different Iron-Age agriculturally-based communities that were otherwise widely varying. Their artistic endeavours constitute the most sophisticated and formalised early African artistic tradition outside Egypt.

Both coiled and subtractive sculpting methods were used to create naturalistic and expressionist human figures, with highly distinctive elongated forms, triangular eyes, pierced pupils/nostrils and elaborate hairstyles. Substyles of the Nok tradition include the Classical Jemaa Style, the Katsina-Ala Style (elongated heads) and the Sokoto Style (elongated monobrow foreheads, lending a severe expression to the face) and random variants such as the Herm Statues of Kuchamfa (simplified cylindrical figures topped with normal heads). The function of the art is unclear, although the care with which they are executed has led some to claim they represent nobility, perhaps ancestors to which obeisance and sacrifices were offered. It is however an important issue to resolve, for the Nok are believed to be a forerunner of the Ife and Benin sculptural tradition. The large scale of the current piece would argue for a central social role rather than a domestic context.

This piece displays characteristics that are most proximate to the Jemaa style, but the boundaries of each style are essentially artificial. The fact that it is made to cap a vessel is also a link to the Katsina tradition. It is a large, well-preserved and striking piece of ancient African art.