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National Gallery of Australia
The data was transferred directly by the institution.
Last Updated: 2021-10-26
Language: English
irnObject ID
36318
Main TitleDesignation, Object Type
Box in the form of a mudfish or catfish
Materials and TechniqueMaterial
carved ivory
DimensionsDimensions
19.5 x 12.0 x 4.6 x cm
Date CreatedDate Made
15th century
CreatorsProducer
Edo people, Court of Benin
Place Of CreationProduction Place
Northern Niger Delta, Nigeria
ProvenanceProvenance
with George R. Harding (1888–c.1912), London;
from whom bought by Augustus Pitt-Rivers (1827–1900), Oxford, 27 June 1899 (£5);
with Everett Rassiga (1922–2003), New York;
from whom bought by the Australian National Gallery, Canberra, April 1974
The collecting history of this work of art is partial. Its location and ownership are unknown before the 19th century, and between the 1910s and the 1970s. The National Gallery of Australia welcomes further information regarding its history of ownership.
Credit LineAccession Date
Purchased 1974
ExhibitedExhibition History
Die Kunst von Schwartz-Afrika, Kunsthaus, Zurich 31 October 1970–10 February 1971, K28, p.383, illus. p.161;
Kunst am Niger, Villa Hugel, Essen, 25 March–13 June 1971, cat.1 p.26, no.75; cat.2, K28, p.164, illus.165;
Kunst ujt Afrika, Haags G
LiteratureBibliography
Catalogue of the Pitt Rivers museum, Farnham, 1899, vol.6, p.1913;
Lieutenant-General Pitt-Rivers, Antique Works of Art from Benin, London: private printing 1900 (reprinted 1974), plate XLVII, figs 372–73, p.94, illus. b&w;
Felix von Luschan, Die Altertümer von Benin, Berlin and Leipzig:De Gruyter1919 (reprinted New York: Hacker Art Books 1968), vol.1, p.485, vol.3, pl.117, illus. b&w;
Elsy Leuzinger, The Art of Black Africa, London: Studio Vista 1972, K30, pp.168–69, illus. b&w, as ‘collection: George Ortiz, Geneva’