The name of this item is missing in its original language. If you know the name or have any comments, please use the form to get in touch with the institution that provided the data.
Dignitary, perhaps used as a ridge turret.
Contact
Favorite

The figure of a dignitary is interpreted as a roof figure due to its unusual mounting on a metal plate. Armed with a sword and bow and dressed in a leopard's cape, a square bell on a chain of coral beads and leopard's teeth as well as a mitre-shaped headdress, this dignitary is an image of royal power and the roof decoration was probably removed along with the relief panels in the palace courtyards during a crisis of royalty in the 17th century.

This content was machine-translated
Data Provider
Ethnologisches Museum
Show only fields containing data

Cataloguing data

Object type
Plastic
Dimensions
Objektmaß: 45,5 x 22,6 x 15,8 cm (Messung am Objekt)
Gewicht: 4,1 kg
Material/Technique
Brass, copper alloy
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
III C 9948

Provenance and sources

where
Benin [kingdom]

when
16th century - 17th century
where
Nigeria [Land]
Benin [Königreich]

who
William Downing Webster (1868-05-11 - 1913-01-14) - Collectors

Description
Commissioned from the Igun Eronmwon brass foundry guild in the Kingdom of Benin in the 16th or 17th century; ownership before 1897 currently unknown; probably looted in connection with the British conquest of Benin, 1897; in unknown possession between Feb. 1897 and 1899; acquired by the Museum of Ethnology from William D. Webster, 1899.

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

Related objects

Bag with "Oracle-bottles"
The name of this item is missing in its original language. If you know the name or have any comments, please use the form to get in touch with the institution that provided the data.
Vessel rattle
cakin tashe
Language: Unknown language
Language: Unknown language
Arm ring
The name of this item is missing in its original language. If you know the name or have any comments, please use the form to get in touch with the institution that provided the data.
Ivory tooth with relief carving
Aken’ni Elao
Language: Bini
Language: Bini
Ceremonial knife
The name of this item is missing in its original language. If you know the name or have any comments, please use the form to get in touch with the institution that provided the data.
Fish
The name of this item is missing in its original language. If you know the name or have any comments, please use the form to get in touch with the institution that provided the data.
Figure
The name of this item is missing in its original language. If you know the name or have any comments, please use the form to get in touch with the institution that provided the data.
Osun rod
The name of this item is missing in its original language. If you know the name or have any comments, please use the form to get in touch with the institution that provided the data.
Female sculpture
The name of this item is missing in its original language. If you know the name or have any comments, please use the form to get in touch with the institution that provided the data.
Lidded vessel
woda
Language: Unknown language
Language: Unknown language
Plate
The name of this item is missing in its original language. If you know the name or have any comments, please use the form to get in touch with the institution that provided the data.
This content was machine-translated
2.1 / 7.0