X.3357: Benin bell, West Africa, pre 1920
60mm width x 60mm depth x 110mm high
To contact the spirit of his ancestors the Oba rings brass bells before making offerings at the royal altars. Warriors also rang bells during campaigns to invoke protection from the spirit world. Bells are listed as being worn by warriors when marching into battle. They were important religious artefacts to the Edo people. The design on this bell is a stylised Portuguese head in form of double spiral loop in low relief on front panel.
The specific date of these bells is uncertain. Similar bells in the British Museum are listed as 16th-19th centuries. The documentation card lists it as being donated to the collection pre 1920. Benin Bronzes were made from 1300 until the end of the Empire in 1897 however they continued to be made for the tourist/travel/collector’s trade during and post this period. With the Portuguese head decoration, it is unlikely this bell would date before 1500. Bronzes are still made using the lost wax technique by Benin craftspeople today. We therefore cannot be specific about the dating of the bell. Research into online collections has shown that there are some bells with figurative heads that are generally on display and some more abstracted design that are less like to be displayed. The NMAG bell is a more abstracted designs and is very similar to that listed in the Horniman and British Museum, Weltmuseum Wien and NMVW-collectie Wereldculturen online collections.
This was a relatively early acquisition into the Museum when there was a focus on collecting ethnography. It is listed in an inventory of the upper museum room gifted by W.C. Wells pre 1920. There is no information on this donor in the donors Register.
In the past the object has been listed as being displayed in the Upper Museum Room at Central Museum. More recently since the 1990s it has been used learning in loan boxes-ethnography boxes. These have been on-loan to schools and other educational organisations. Since 2008 this has been part of a Representations of Empire loan resource in collaboration with the Northamptonshire Black History Organisation. The resource considers how there are many Benin bronzes in museums and collections in different parts of the world and what the bronzes tell is about Benin and why so many are no longer there. The pupils use Northampton’s Benin Bronzes as a stimulus to investigate this story. The bronzes were removed late 2020 whilst we considered what is appropriate as an organisation.
NMAG Ethnography collections The ethnographic material held at Northampton Museum was acquired by the museum mainly through donation between the late 19th century and the late 20th century. The objects come from a wide geographical spread – Asia, Oceania, Australia, Africa, North and South America and a few pieces from distinct ethnic groups within Europe. The larger part of the collection comes from Africa.
Author
Collections Manager
Contributors
Public Programme Manager, Registrar and Senior Shoe Curator
Summary
This report summarises known information on the Benin Bronze Bell in the NMAG collection.