Catalogue card notes: "Bronze cast of human head, features, 3 tribalmarks over each eye, hatching above, circles below same. Pupils of eyes inlaid with iron. Reticulated headdress and 4 rosettes of coral or agate. Coral choker -badge of rank. Band of coral on each side of ear and 4 strands of plaited hair. Base of head decorated with ox heads and other animals and Neolithic celt s in front and behind."
Lost-wax cast commemorative head of an Oba, used to support a tusk on an ancestral altar. Presumed collected on the British Expeditionto Benin City, 1897.
Donated by Dr Louis Cobbet (1863-1947), Cambridge University Lecturer in Bacteriology from 1907 to 1929. There is no documentation on Cobbet’s acquisition but it is typical of the ‘bronzes’ looted as part of the Benin Expedition 1897. This has therefore been added to the source field with queries to indicate the lack of available data for a definite provenance.
McKeating, Alison, D. W. Phillipson and Rachel Maclean. Metal in Africa. Cambridge: Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Cambridge University African Studies Centre, 1996. Pg 2 and 27
Catalogue card reads, in black ink: 25.64 | W. Africa / Benin / Bronze cast of human head. features, 3 tribalmarks over each eye, hatching above, circles below same. Pupils of eyes inlaid with iron. Reticulated head-dress & 4 rosettes of coral or agate. Coral choker - badge of rank. Band of coral on each side of ear & 4 strands of plaited hair. Base of head decorated with ox heads & other animals & Neolithic celts in front and behind. / D.D. Dr L. Cobbett / cf. Pitt Rivers "Antique Works of Art from Benin" PL XVI. p32. (NB) this cast has a base)."
Red circular sticker in bottom right corner of card.
In January 2017, Prof. Marcos Martinon-Torres and Agnese Benzonelli, UCL Institute of Archaeology, tested this idno using a portable XRF as part of a programme of base metal analysis of Benin material. This object was tested twice and the results are as follows: 1) Cu: 70.53%; Zn: 26.80%; Sn: 0.03%; Pb: 2.27%. 2) Cu: 70.84%; Zn: 26.10%; Sn: 0.02%; Pb: 2.60%.
It was observed this head was classed as Willett 5 and 1700-1850 (Dark 4 chrono range).
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Possibly purchased by Cobbet at the close of the Empire Exhibition where it may have been exhibited as part of the Nigerian Pavilion, which also included Nigerian artists as living displays and a replica altar which featured painted wood representations of the original bronze and ivory artworks
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Register notes: exhibited at the 'Wembley Exhib: 1924'. This is the British Empire Exhibition, Wembley Park, London, 23 April 1924 to 31 October 1925.
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Exhibited in the Benin case, Andrews Gallery, 20 March 2017- present.
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Exhibited: On loan to Stevenage Museum, UK, for 'Body Art: The Human Canvas,' 4 February to 2 July 2006.