Verzamelgeschiedenis (toelichting)provenance 'An elephant’s tusk purchased from M. Wolff in 21 December 1897 in London, United Kingdom. Correspondence links this directly to the court in Benin City. An article by Blackmun (1991) identifies this tusk as having been owned by the Ezomo, a powerful and wealthy courtier in the Oba’s court.'
'On 31 August 1897, shell merchant Maurice Wolff wrote to the Rijksmuseum with an offer for two ‘olifantstanden’ (elephant’s teeth) which he states are allegedly ‘[…] 4300 jaar oud […]’ and ‘[…] naar Engeland overgebracht werden na buit gemaakt te zijn in het paleis des konings van Bénin.’ (‘[…] brought to England after having been captured in the palace of the king of Benin.’ (trans. NMVW). On 3 September the director of the Rijksmuseum, B. W.F. van Riemsdijk, forwards this letter to the director of the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Dr Schmeltz, stating: ‘De 4300 jaren oude olifantstanden behoren bij mij niet te huis.’ (‘The 4300 old elephants’ tusks do not belong in my museum.’ trans. NMVW). (LdnRMV_A01_025_00150, 00151).
Later letters between M. Wolff, ‘Shell Merchant and Manufacturer of Seaside Novelties’ and Dr. Schmeltz show that negotiations for one ‘elephant’s tooth’ started on 4 September 1897. Because it was damaged during the journey to Leiden, Wolff charged £46 instead of the original £50.'
'The tusk arrived on, or shortly before, 11 December in Leiden (LdnRMV_A01_024_00532 to 00536 and LdnRMV_A01_024_00543).
The tusk arrived on, or shortly before, 11 December in Leiden (NL-LdnRMV-A1-24-532 to -536, NL-LdnRMV-A1-24-543). The original museum register does not give additional provenance information (MR-L: NL-LdnRMV_A03_045_0031), but the day book shows the artwork (RV-1148-1) was registered on 21 December 1897 (DB-L: LdnRMV_A03_007_0207). The museum was well aware that objects from the Benin expeditionmight come on the market: ‘From the Kingdom of Benin, as a result of the punitive expeditionof the English, the art treasures have emerged, which Dapper had already mentioned in his [publication] “Afrika” and of which the existence used to be doubted.’
'The art historian Barbara Blackmun suggests that carved elephant tusks already existed in the late eighteenth century as between 1778 and 1787 the French Captain J.F. Landolphe made several trips to Benin City where he and his party describe carved tusks in different places, evidence that figural carving was widespread on ancestral ivories by the 1780s (Blackmun 1991: 57). Blackmun identifies the museum’s tusk (RV-1148-1) as one that probably belonged to the court of Ekeneza, who in 1787 held the hereditary title of Ezomo, the Oba’s highest ranking military chief (Ezra 1992: 109). Ekeneza would have commissioned the tusk for an altar for his grandfather Ehenua. Blackmun (1991) elaborates on her analysis of the original owner and location of the tusk and dates it between 1760 and 1786 based on the depictions that she has identified as commemorating historic battles. She states: ‘The conjunction of oral tradition and documentary history suggests that the four large, worn tusks of Set E:I [which includes RV-1148-1] are remnants from this paternal altar, commissioned sometime between 1760 and 1786’ (Blackmun 1991: 58).
Blackmun commented the following in the museum database: ‘It is a rare piece. On this tusk the ‘double trunk-hand emblem’ is carved, a symbol that indicates that Ezomo was the owner. There are only four tusks known in the world that carry this symbol. They all belong to Set E:1, which has six tusks in total. These are located in: Mannheim (IV AF 4833), Leipzig (MAF 285), Stuttgart (4671), British Museum (NN6), Minneapolis (56.33) and Leiden (1148-1). The ‘double trunk-hand motif’ appears on four of these six, namely the one in Leiden, Mannheim, Leipzig and the British Museum.’'
(Excerpts from Provenance no. 2 'The Benin Collections at the National Museum of World Cultures' written by Rosalie Hans with Annette Schmidt, 11-01-2021; see also metatekst RV-M6-3)
Publicaties over het objectbibliography Bedaux, R.M.A.
1990 De geschiedenis van de Leidse Benin-verzameling. In: A. Duchâteau, Benin: vroege hofkunst uit Afrika. Brussel:116 en 163.
Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (NN)
1947 Afrikaanse Kunst in Nederland. Tentoonstelling Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (1 December 1947 - 1 Februari 1948). [s.l. : s.n.]. pagina 35, nummer 43
Marquart, J., 'Die Benin-Sammlung des Reichsmuseums für Völkerkunde in Leiden'. Veroffentlichungen des Reichsmuseums für Völkerkunde in Leiden. Serie II nr. 7. Leiden: Brill, 1913. pagina 75-85
Tardy, [et al.]
1977 Les Ivoires: deuxieme partie: Antiquité - Islam - Inde-Chine - Japon - Afrique
noire - Régions polaires - Amérique. Parijs: Tardy. pagina 397
For more information about the provenance, see <a href="https://issuu.com/tropenmuseum/docs/2021_provenance_2__benin__e-book" target="_blank"> Provenance #2 – the Benin collections at the National Museum of World Cultures </a> (NB: Issuu uses cookies).