Catalogue card notes: "Human head in bronze. Marked features, tatooed [sic 'tattooed'] with hatching above and circles below the eyes. Branch-like figures perhaps coral - near eyes. 3 tribalmarks over each eye. Pupils inlaid with iron. Reticulated head-dress & rosettes of coral or agate. Peculiar figures on each side of head-dress perhaps representing feathers. Coral choker, badge of rank. Bands of coral or agate hang down from head-dress at sides and back. On projecting base are represented 2 leopards?, oxhead & ct, arms & hands [&] Neolithic celt in front & below."
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.
Catalogue card reads, in black ink: "25.66 | W. Africa / Benin / Human head in bronze. Marked features, tatooed [sic 'tattooed'] with hatching above and circles below the eyes. Branch-like figures perhaps coral - near eyes. 3 tribalmarks over each eye. Pupils inlaid with iron. Reticulated head-dress & rosettes of coral or agate. Peculiar figures on each side of head-dress perhaps representing feathers. Coral choker, badge of rank. Bands of coral or agate hang down from head-dress at sides and back. On projecting base are represented 2 leopards?, oxhead & ct, arms & hands [&] Neolithic celt in front & below.
cf. Pitt-Rivers "Antique Works of Art from Benin" P32 PLXVI / D.D. Dr L. Cobbett."
Red, circular stickers on top right and bottom right 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: 75.69%; Zn: 23.22%; Sn: 0.06%; Pb: 0.64%. 2) Cu: 77.44%; Zn: 21.33%; Sn: 0.05%; Pb: 0.81%. It was noted as Dark 5, Willett 6 but ZnSn slightly low and may be Willett 5. It is post 1700 according to chemistry and post 1800 according to Dark.
Analysis/1
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.
Archaeology
Auction - Sale/0
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
Auction - Sale/1
CMS Context/0
CMS Description
Catalogue
Display/0
Exhibited in the Benin case, Andrews Gallery, 20 March 2017- present.
Display/1
Register notes: exhibited at the 'Wembley Exhib: 1924'. This is the British Empire Exhibition, Wembley Park, London, 23 April 1924 to 31 October 1925.