1970.14

Sculpture

Altar of a Hand

Cylindrical sculpture with a circular hole in the center top and a horizontal flange along the base. Four semi-nude female figures stand along the perimeter of the cylinder, playing percussive musical instruments. One holds a bell-shaped gong, one holds an instrument in the shape of a bird, and the other two hold indistinct (damaged) instruments. Vertical bands of interlace patterns appear between the figures; two of these bands are repoussé brass sheeting affixed to the sculpture with brass nails or brads to disguise casting flaws, which are visible from the interior. One of the affixed repoussé bands is missing two nails at upper left and bears creasing at center right.

Circular adhesive label, printed and handwritten, affixed to the interior of the sculpture near the bottom: MATHIAS KOMOR / WORKS OF ART / H886 / NEW YORK

Brass

10 1/4 × 11 in. (26 × 27.9 cm.)

Sculpture

17th century

Unknown Edo artist

Nigeria, Africa

Museum purchase, Preston Pope Satterwhite Fund

Presumably from the palace of an Edo Queen Mother (iyoba), Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria; Seized by the British Punitive Expeditionary Forces, 1897; [1] Sold at the Naval Auction [London], 1897. [2] William Downing Webster; [3] Purchased by Lt. General [Augustus Henry Lane-Fox] Pitt-Rivers, October 15, 1898, for £28.10.0; [4] Subsequently in the collection of the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Farnham, Dorset, Room 7, case 72; [5] Presumably by descent to his son Alexander Pitt-Rivers, around 1900; [6] Presumably by descent to Captain George Pitt-Rivers. [7] Mathias Komor, New York (vendor), by 1970; Purchased by the Speed Art Museum, February 1970. 1. Provenance information detailed on invoice from vendor Mathias Komor, New York, dated February 13, 1970. See object file. 2. Ibid. 3. See digital record from the Pitt-Rivers "second collection" catalogue held by Cambridge University Library, "Database for Pitt-Rivers 'Second' Collection," RETHINKING PITT-RIVERS. Volume 5 page 1716. Accessed May 10, 2022. databases.prm.ox.ac.uk/fmi/webd/rethinking_volumes. 4. Ibid. 5. Ibid. See object file for invoice from vendor Mathias Komor, New York, which also references Pitt-Rivers provenance. 6. Michael Thompson and Colin Renfrew, "The Catalogues of the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Farnham, Dorset," ANTIQUITY volume 73, number 280 (June 1999): page 380. 7. Ibid.

Mathias Komor

African, Nigeria, Kingdom of Benin, Edo people

African

African Art

There appears to be four visually similar versions of this sculpture: 1) the Speed version, formerly in the Pitt-Rivers Museum collection, distinguished by the damage to the affixed sheeting with interlace design, 2) the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., formerly in the Howe collections and sold at Sotheby’s in 1961, 3) the Museum für Völkerkunde, Hamburg, Germany, referenced under Related Images on the Ross Archive of African Images website, No. 2116.23 and illustrated as No. 1183.39, and 4) sold at Bonhams, April 26, 2007, lot 484, formerly in the Crabb family collection.

University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Lexington, KY. AMERICAN INDIAN, AFRICAN, OCEANIC ART, January 12-28, 1973. See exhibition catalogue: RITUAL AND UTILTY: ARTS OF AFRICA, OCEANIA, INDIAN AMERICA. Lexington: University of Kentucky Art Gallery, 1973, p.10. The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY. AFRICAN ART AT THE SPEED, March 17, 2009-March 28, 2010. The Frazier History Museum, Louisville, KY. SPIRITS OF THE PASSAGE: THE STORY OF THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE, February 1 - June 14, 2013

Pitt Rivers, Augustus. ANTIQUE WORKS OF ART FROM BENIN COLLECTED BY LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PITT RIVERS, D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A. INSPECTOR OF ANCIENT MONUMENTS IN GREAT BRITAIN. Privately printed, 1900, page 46, illustrated figure 139. Hagen, Karl. "Altertümer von Benin im Hamburgischen Museum für Völkerkunde." MITTEILUNGEN AUS DEM MUSEUM FÜR VÖLKERKUNDE IN HAMBURG volume VI, number 35 (1917): page 61. Luschan, Felix von. DIE ALTERTÜMER VON BENIN. 3 vols. Berlin Leipzig: Walter De Gruyter, 1919. Volume 1, illustrated figure 466. Pitt-Rivers, Augustus. ANTIQUE WORKS OF ART FROM BENIN. Introduction by Bernard Fagg. New York: Dover, (1900) 1968, page 46, illustrated figure 139. Brincard, Marie-Thérèse, ed. SOUNDING FORMS: AFRICAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1989, page 188. Cloudman, Ruth, and others. THE SPEED ART MUSEUM: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE COLLECTION. London: Merrell Publishers Limited, 2007, illustrated page 38. "No. 2116.23." ROSS ARCHIVE OF AFRICAN IMAGES. RAAI. Accessed May 9, 2022. raai.library.yale.edu/site/index.php?globalnav=image_detail&image_id=7142.

Accessioned object