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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 huge, brass-cast snakes wriggling down from the top of the roof towers. The interpretation of these snakes is ambiguous: on the one hand, they represent the realm of the sea god Olokun, the source of the king's power and wealth, but they also symbolise 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 Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Object type
Plastic
Dimensions
Objektmaß: L: 46,5 cm G.: 19 kg
Height: 20 cm
Width: 54 cm
Depth: 40 cm
Material/Technique
Brass
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
III C 8216

Provenance and sources

  • Production
    where
    Benin [kingdom]
  • Production
    when
    17th century-18th century.
    where
    Nigeria
  • Collecting
    who
    Eduard Schmidt - Collectors
  • Change of legal title:
    Acquisition
    Description
    17th century - 18th century, commissioned as decoration for the Royal Palace, Benin City; inherited by Oba Ovonramwen (ca. 1857-1914; r. 1888-97), Royal Palace, Benin City; looted in connection with the British conquest of Benin, 1897; in unknown possession after the conquest of the Kingdom of Benin; collected by Consul Eduard Schmidt, employee of the Woermann line, between 1897 and 1898 in the territory of later colonial Nigeria; sold to the Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin, 1898.
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    Africa

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

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