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Dignitary, perhaps used as a ridge turret.

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.

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Data Provider
Ethnologisches Museum
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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.

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