Catalogue card: "Bronze cast of human head. Marked features, tattooed with hatching and circles above and below the eyes. Branch-like figures -perhaps coral growing out ? of the eyes. Three tribalmarks over each eye. Pupils of eyes inlaid with iron. Reticulated headdress and rosettes of coral or agate. Peculiar figures on each side of the headdress- perhaps representing feathers. Coral choker -badge of rank. Bands of coral or agate hang down from the headdress at sides and back. On projecting base are represented 2 leopards, an ox's head and other animals, arrows and hands and Neolithic celt in front."
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.
Catalogue card reads, in black ink: "25.65 | W. Africa / Benin. / Bronze cast of human head. Marked features, tatooed [sic 'tattooed'] with hatching & circles above & below the eyes. Branch-like figures - perhaps coral growing out ? of the eyes. Three tribalmarks over each eye. Pupils of eyes inlaid with iron. Reticulated head-dress & rosettes of coral or agate. Peculiar figures on each side of the head-dress- perhaps representing feathers. Coral choker, badge of rank. Bands of coral or agate hang down from the head-dress at sides & back. On projecting base are represented 2 leopards, an ox's head & other animals, arrows & hands & Neolithic celt in front. / cf. Pitt-Rivers - Antique Works of Art from Benin. PL16"
Red circular stickers on top right and bottom right of card.
On reverse, in black in: "D.D. Dr L. Cobbett."
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: 73.47%; Zn: 24.98%; Sn: 0.07%; Pb; 1.00%. 2) Cu: 74.84%; Zn: 23.21%; Sn: 0.06%; Pb: 1.03%.
It was noted as Dark 5, Willett 6 but ZnSn slightly low and may be Willett 5. Post 1700 according to chemistry but post 1800 according to Dark.
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Archaeology
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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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CMS Description
Catalogue
Display/0
Exhibited: On display in Maudsley gallery, CUMAA, from 1990- 2011, in the Benin cube case
Display/1
On display in the 'Origins of the Afro Comb: 6000 years of Culture, Politics and Identity' exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum 1 July -November 3 2013. The exhibition label states:
'Bronze and iron head
Before 1925
From Edo State, South Nigeria
Made by a Benin artist
Donated by Dr L. Cobbett. In 1897 a punitive expeditionby the British to Benin resulted in around 2000 bronze plaques and representations being taken from the royal palaces. These works of art were subsequently housed in European and North American museums or sold. The people of Benin have a long-standing tradition of casting bronzes. Many of these images are connected to the Oba (King) and his family. The heads are included here to show the elaborate hairstyles that members of the elite wore.'
Display/2
Register notes: exhibited at the 'Wembley Exhib: 1924'. This is the British Empire Exhibition, Wembley Park, London, 23 April 1924 to 31 October 1925.
Display/3
Exhibited in the Benin case, Andrews Gallery, 20 March 2017- present.