Collector/Previous Ownerprior source, provenance until 1897: Royal Court of the Edo Kingdom, Benin City (Nigeria)
1897: 'prize'/official booty or loot / British Admirality, British officers or civilans connected to the British military expeditionto the Edo kingdom in 1897
c. 1897/98: purchased by Eduard Schmidt, the German Consul in Lagos, who bought about 80 objects on the spot and translocated them to Germany (first Hamburg, then Berlin)
c. 1898: purchased by Max Schoeller (1865-1943), factory owner and colonial activist, in Berlin (or Hamburg)
1898: Schoeller donated the commemorative head to the Linden-Museum Stuttgart in exchange for the Ritterkreuz 1. Klasse of the Friedrichs-Orden (by the King of Württemberg)
Schmidt bought objects from the 'prize' (i.e. 'official' booty), which was also distributed among the officers of the expedition and from the more unofficial 'loot' (seized by officers and other members of the expedition
(cf. Felicity Bodenstein 2020: "Une typologie des prises du butin à Benin City en février 1897". In: Monde(s) 17 (1): 57-77)
Max Schoeller bought the Benin bronze on 14.07.1898. A telegram in which Schoeller informs von Luschan that he has purchased the commemorative head from Schmidt is dated July 14, 1898.
Schoeller donated the royal object to the Linden-Museum on December 6th, 1898 – in exchange for a medal of the King of Wurttemberg. 50 years ago the object was moved to Mainz. In September 2020, the University of Mainz has offered Nigeria (Edo State) to return the commemorative head.
Information on the object in the Mainz collection is available online in the new database of the DDB collections from colonial contexts, as well as in the database of the Contact Point on Benin Collections in Germany.
1. DDB collections from colonial contexts:
https://ccc.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/S6FZFVEAATC5Z2526ZDUYADGBUXOV3YJ?query=&offset=0&facetValues%5B%5D=provider_fct%3DSammlungen+der+Johannes+Gutenberg-Universit%C3%A4t+Mainz&facetValues%5B%5D=affiliate_fct_role%3DMax+Schoeller&_=1642003323535&rows=20&viewType=list&firstHit=S6FZFVEAATC5Z2526ZDUYADGBUXOV3YJ&lastHit=lasthit&hitNumber=1
2. https://www.cp3c.org/benin-bronzes/object.php?o=1155
Material analysis of the memorial head for an Edo king in the Ethnographic Studies Collection, Institute of Ethnology and African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
Analyzed in December 2014
Analyzed by
Dr. Martin Panthöfer
Möller Group
Department of Chemistry
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
E-mail Panthöfer to Brandstetter, 2014-12-30
As far as I can see, this is all based on elemental analyses.
We have used X-ray diffraction, a technique that opens access to the configuration of the elements in a crystalline solid. That means from our analyses we can determine on the compounds or the different phases / modifications.
A rough overview
- the brown / reddish patina consists mainly of cuprite (Cu2O). There is another component which could be an oxide of lead. Possibly there is also a very small amount of Nantokite (CuCl). The latter is probably known as a component in Cuprite Patina (Scott, Copper and Bronze in Art: Corrossion, Colorants, Conservation, I just quickly read a paragraph via GoogleBooks).
- the green patina consists of cuprite and atacamite or paraatacamite, both minerals of the composition Cu2Cl(OH)3, which is known for patina.
- the earthy crusts consist of kaolinite or a similar clay, they are usually very difficult to distinguish, and quartz.
- The alloy is now exciting. It is clearly the α-brass phase. Since copper and zinc are of different sizes, the size of the elementary cell, in the case of this phase a cube, changes with the composition. Owen and Pickup have already investigated this in 1993 (Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Vol 140, No. 840, pp 179-191). The edge length of the cube (we call this the "lattice parameter a") fits 68%wt Cu quite well. According to the classification in Riederer, this would be alloy group 12 / dark type 8, i.e. a rather young head / But we have to be careful with this, I did not consider other alloy components. We have to have a closer look at this - if there is any interest.
- in addition, lead is found: not as an alloying component, but as an element. Lead does not alloy into the α-brass phase, but is finely distributed in it. This clears everything up: the lead was already present in the melt during casting.