Physical description/0description Armlet in shape of bar brooch with T shaped cross ends. The bar and cross-pieces are are set with red glass beads. The armlet is of brass. The fastenings are double curves of brass with eyes at ends, pivoting on copper and brass rivets in brooch. Worn only by king's women or rich chief's daughter.
Physical description/1description An armband or armlet with hinged arms and a long copper alloy bar set with coral and with 'T' shaped ends. The bar is set with eight pieces of coral as well as an additional piece at each end. There is a small amount of string tied through a hole in the end of each arm, possibly part of the original fastening. The majority of the metal is copper alloy, although one of the arm hinges appears to be made from copper.
d_Description Namedescription An armband or armlet with hinged arms and a long copper alloy bar set with coral and with 'T' shaped ends. The bar is set with eight pieces of coral as well as an additional piece at each end. There is a small amount of string tied through a hole in the end of each arm, possibly part of the original fastening. The majority of the metal is copper alloy, although one of the arm hinges appears to be made from copper.
See also Loan. No. 34 on this database , where Vienna, Berlin, Bonn, Chicago are noted as the borrowers- same exhibition
Initial email enquiry, 19/12/2005 says:
> 'The exhibition is a co-operation project between the Ethnological Museum in Vienna, Austria, the Federal Exhibition Hall in Bonn, the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, both in Germany, and the Art Institute Chicago. The exhibition will be opened in Vienna in May 2007, will then be shown in Bonn from September to December 2007, in Berlin from January 2008 to April 2008 and in Chicago from May to August 2008. This large exhibition on Benin culture and art will for the first time re-unite masterworks from all the important historic collections in Europe, the US and Nigeria. We have already been granted loans from several important museum collections.'
See also initial enquiry- filed as Loan. no. 30 in this database, with Barbara Plankensteiner as the borrower- same exhibition
Touring exhibition entitled \'Benin. Höfische Kunst aus Westafrika\' (Benin. Royal art from West Africa)
Initial email enquiry, 19/12/2005 says:
'The exhibition is a cooperation project between the Ethnological
Museum in Vienna, Austria, the Federal Exhibition Hall in Bonn, the
Ethnological Museum in Berlin, both in Germany, and the Art
Institute Chicago. The exhibition will be opened in Vienna in May
2007, will then be shown in Bonn from September to December 2007,
in Berlin from January 2008 to April 2008 and in Chicago from May
to August 2008. This large exhibition on Benin culture and art will
for the first time re-unite masterworks from all the important
historic collections in Europe, the US and Nigeria. We have already
been granted loans from several important museum collections.'
Related Documents/1bibliography According to Prof. Paul Basu, SOAS, in an email send to Chris Wingfield on 30 March 2017, following the opening of a Benin display including this object, it "was included in an initial shipment of objects that Thomas sent to the British Museum in April 1909. In the archive of the British Museum's Prehistory & Europe Department there are packing lists with prices paid (for which Thomas was seeking reimbursement) and the ‘armlet’, item 43, is listed as costing 12/9. Elsewhere in a letter to T.A. Joyce at the British Museum Thomas mentions that some of the objects were ‘rather dear, but prices are up in Benin City’."
Exhibited: Benin: Court Arts of West Africa Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 8/5/2007- 3/9/2007; Musee du quai Branly, Paris [instead of Bonn] 7/10/2007- 6/1/2008; Berlin 7/2/2008- 25/5/2008; Chicago 27/6/2008- 21/9/2008