Before the slave trade · to 1561
The Sande (Bondo) and Poro societies and their masquerades, nomoli and minsereh figures, and the churches and mosques. Pictures of society matters stay behind a notice, out of respect.
Many were made by colonial officials, missionaries and foreign visitors. Titles and descriptions come from the collections that hold them and can carry the attitudes and language of their time. We show them as historical records, not as endorsements. Dates, eras and categories were assigned automatically from those records and some will be wrong. If you or your family appear in a picture, you hold rights to one, a detail is wrong, or you think a picture should not be here, press “Report this picture” under it: your note reaches our editors with the picture attached, and they can take it down straight away. You can also write to hello@dt-ets.com.
Head (Temne or Bullom) 12th–16th century
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Seated Figure (Temne or Bullom peoples) 12th–16th century
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Seated male figure (Temne or Bullom peoples) 12th–16th century
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Head (Temne or Bullom peoples) 12th–16th century
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Female Figure (Africa, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Sherbro-style maker) 1500s
Africa, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Sherbro-style maker artist · Public domain (CC0) · Cleveland Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Female Figure (Africa, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Sherbro Island, unknown maker) 1500s
Africa, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Sherbro Island, unknown maker artist · Public domain (CC0) · Cleveland Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Bottom of clay pot, Kabala, Sierra Leone (West Africa) Taken in 1967
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Smiling girl, Mandingo lady, and her large clay pot, Kabala, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (491581387) 1967
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Top of clay pot, Kabala, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2255787682) 1967
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Carved stone figure from Sierra Leone at the Africana Museum, Cuttington College, Suakoko, Liberia (West Africa) (2136295008) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Carved stone figure from Sierra Leone or Liberia at the Africana Museum, Cuttington College, Suakoko, Liberia (West Africa) (2158765449) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture