Catalogue card notes: "Brass mask, [...] the face surrounded by a narrow ruff, [...] of scrolls. Semicircular (approx:) openwork headdress. Iron [nails as] pupils to eyes."
NB. "nails as" has been inserted later in second hand
'Benin City' has been used as a provenance although the register and card note only 'Benin'.
It is likely that the term 'Benin City' has been used as a catch-all term to refer to the historical Kingdom of Benin, given Edo style of the hip pendent.
Catalogue card reads, in blue ink: "69.6 | Africa | Nigeria / Brass mask, 6 1/2" high, the face surrounded by a narrow ruff (about 1/4") of scrolls. Semicircular (approx:) open headdress. Iron pupils to eyes / Benin / Bequest of Mrs L.E.Joyce."
Added in second hand, black ink: [inserted before "pupils"] "nails as"
Red circular sticker on 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: 75.08%; Zn: 22.22%; Sn: 0.08%; Pb: 2.38%. 2) Cu: 74.61%; Zn: 22.64%; Sn: 0.09%; Pb: 2.42%. It was noted that a Zn reading of >20 and very low trace elements would suggest a date of 1800+.