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Snakehead
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European reports from the early 18th and 19th centuries as well as depictions on the palace tank and on relief panels from the 16th-17th centuries describe large, brass-cast serpents slithering down from the top of the roof towers. The interpretation of these snakes is ambiguous: on the one hand, they symbolise the realm of the sea god Olokun, the source of the king's power and wealth, but they also stand for Osun, the spiritual power of plants, which was associated with the king's power, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries.

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Ethnologisches Museum
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Cataloguing data

Object type
Plastic
Dimensions
Height: 22,5 cm
Depth: 52 cm
Width: 37 cm
Weight: 13,3 kg
Material/Technique
Brass
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
III C 8514

Provenance and sources

where
Benin [kingdom]
when
17th century-18th century.
where
Nigeria [Land]
Benin [Königreich]
who
Heinrich Bey - Collectors
Description
17th century - 18th century, commissioned by the Igun Eronmwon or Guild of Brass Casters in the Kingdom of Benin; probably used as a roof ornament in the royal palace until 1897; probably looted in connection with the British conquest of Benin, 1897; in unknown possession after the conquest of the Kingdom of Benin; collected on behalf of the firm Bey & Co, between 1897 and 1898 in the territory of later colonial Nigeria; sold to the Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin, 1899.

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Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
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