Associatie/beschrijving (online getoond)description Reliëfplaat met afbeelding (van boven gezien) van een op zijn buik liggende luipaard. De luipaard wordt als de koning van het woud gezien, zoals de Oba de koning van het land is. Hij wordt geassocieerd met moed, kracht, woestheid en snelheid. Daarom bekle
Verzamelgeschiedenis (toelichting)provenance 'The day book entry of 29 April 1901 acknowledges the arrival of 10 Benin objects (RV-1286-1 to -10) that were ‘Aangekocht van J.F.G. Umlauff te Hamburg. 1 besneden olifantstand, 1 houten en geelkoperen beslagen fetishkop, 1 executiezwaard, twee ivoren en vijf bronzen voorwerpen uit Benin’ (DB-L: NL-LdnRMV-A3-8-5).'
'The first (available) correspondence from J.F.G. Umlauff dates from 15 April 1898 where he encourages Schmeltz to come and visit his Hamburg collections in May. The museum register lists the objects with a short description (MR-L: NL-LdnRMV_A03_047_0067). The TMS catalogue card states that the carved ivory arm (RV-1286-9) was ‘Excavated in Benin 1897.’ A 21 March 1901 letter states that Umlauff offers an elephant tusk (RV-1286-10) – a ‘Beninzahn’, Benin tooth – to Schmeltz for 1500 Mark. In earlier letters, it was listed as No. 401 and offered for 1600 Mark (NL-LdnRMV-A1-32-484/485, -486, -487/488 to -491/492). This sale is confirmed in later letters (NL-LdnRMV-A1-32-350/351, -352, -353/354 to -356/357).'
'As with the acquisition of the Webster collection, Schmeltz again needed to secure funds. He first accepted the objects as a loan before acquiring them officially. The annual report documents the acquired series in detail and includes the names of all the donors for the acquisition (AR-L 1900-1901: 15). The annual report of the following year confirms the earlier statement saying that ‘The collections from the Kingdom of Benin were expanded in the much-desired way, first of all through a gift, for which we owe thanks to an anonymous benefactor, for objects that were up till now on loan to the Museum.’ The objects range across the three Umlauff series (RV-1286, RV-1310, RV-1355).'
(Excerpt from Provenance no. 2 'The Benin Collection at the National Museum of World Cultures' written by Rosalie Hans with Annette Schmidt, 12-01-2021)
Ezra, K., 'Royal Art of Benin; the Perls collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art'. New York, 1992.
Dapper, O., 'Naukeurige Beschriyvinge der Afrikaensche Gewesten'. Amsterdam, 1668.
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: 87 en 162.
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.
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).