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Foot for setting up elephant teeth

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Elephant tusks stood on the ancestral altars in the courtyards of the royal palace either in the metal memorial heads (which have a suitable opening at the top) or in such holders / feet. The Frenchman Landolphe reported in the 18th century of over 3,000 large tusks in the palace. In 1897, 130 were found on the 13 ancestral altars of the residence and stolen. Since 1651, however, Europeans have also reported appropriately constructed ancestral altars in wealthy burghers' houses. With the help of these holders, the tusks could be placed vertically, representing the world axis connecting the earthly sphere with the otherworldly one in heaven. Text: Dietmar Neitzke.

Data Provider
Linden-Museum Stuttgart Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Cultural attribution
Edo
Object type
Halterung
Dimensions
Diameter: 20.7 cm
Height: 16.7 cm
Material/Technique
Copper alloy
Lost wax process, scribed
Current location
Linden-Museum Stuttgart
Inventory number
037235

Provenance and sources

  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    Hoffa; 0651
  • Change of physical control or legal title
    where
    Nigeria
Provenance
Albert Hoffa was a friend of Dr Anton Lübbert, who was also a collector of the Linden Museum and a doctor in German Southwest Africa. The latter also obtained Benin objects for Hoffa.The previous owner of these objects was Adolph Heemke, who worked as a merchant in West Africa and worked for the Hamburg company H. Bey & Co. which acquired objects directly in Benin and sent them to Germany where they were sold. Text: Markus Himmelsbach.

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED

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