Overall: 5 x 4 1/4 x 1 7/8 in. (12.7 x 10.8 x 4.8 cm)
Overall (with mount): 7 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 3 3/8 in. (19.1 x 10.8 x 8.6 cm)
Mount: 7 3/8 x 3 5/16 x 2 13/16 in. (18.7 x 8.4 x 7.1 cm)
This type of "mask" was actually designed to be worn at the waist as part of the regalia of a Benin king. This example, cast in copper alloy, takes the form of a face with incised scarification on the cheeks and forehead. It appears to be a later example, possibly post-1897 (the date of the British Punitive Expedition that sacked Benin), or may even have been the work of a neighboring Ijebu-Yoruba artist.
(Dr. Christa Clarke, March 2003)
Clarke, Christa. African Art in the Barnes Foundation: The Triumph of L'Art nègre and the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2015, 180, 182, pl. 33b.
Medgyes, Ladislas. "The Art of the African ------." International Studio (November 1922): 143 "A Mask in Black Bronze from Benin (collection of A. A. Feder)."
Overall: 5 x 4 1/4 x 1 7/8 in. (12.7 x 10.8 x 4.8 cm)Overall (with mount): 7 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 3 3/8 in. (19.1 x 10.8 x 8.6 cm)Mount: 7 3/8 x 3 5/16 x 2 13/16 in. (18.7 x 8.4 x 7.1 cm)
Clarke, Christa. African Art in the Barnes Foundation: The Triumph of L'Art nègre and the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2015, 180, 182, pl. 33b.
Medgyes, Ladislas. "The Art of the African ------." International Studio (November 1922): 143 "A Mask in Black Bronze from Benin (collection of A. A. Feder)."