This commemorative head, or uhunmwun-elao, was carved from wood by an Edo craftsman in the Kingdom of Benin, located in the southwest part of present-day Nigeria. The head was carved in a cylindrical shape and overlaid with thin brass sheets. The figure wears Edo noble attire: a beaded crown with a feather adorning one side and a beaded collar. Scarification marks are seen around the figure’s eyes. Because the head is not made entirely of cast bronze or brass, it likely does not represent the king (called the Oba), but rather a chief. Commemorative heads like this one would have been placed on altars in Benin City, the kingdom’s capitol. In 1897, an army of men under the leadership of a British Vice Admiral attacked and looted Benin City; today, there is much debate about whether such objects belong in Western institutions. The Chazen continues to investigate the provenance of this particular object.
by 1973, in the collection of "R. S." (Berlin, Germany) [1]; by 1997, when included in a catalogue of the Bareiss Family Collection, in the ownership of Walter and Molly Bareiss (Greenwich, CT, USA) (inv. #346); 11 November 2004, sold by Walter and Molly Bareiss via Sotheby's New York "African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art" auction [sale #8029, lot 72] to Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art] (Madison, WI, USA). [1] As published in Schaedler's "African Art in Private German Collections." [Last researched by Chazen staff 20 August 2021]
Roy, Christopher D. "Kilengi: African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection." Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997. pp. 45, 301, 406; no. 199
Rarey, Matthew Francis and Henry John Drewal. "Never at Rest: African Art at the University of Wisconsin." African Arts, vol 53, no. 4 (2020): 68-85. fig. 6
Kilengi: African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection; organized by Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany; exhibited: Kestner Gesellschaft, 30 August 1997 - 19 October 1997; MAK Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, 12 November 1997 - 18 January 1998; Stadtische Galerie Im Lenbachhaus, 8 April 1998 - 5 July 1998; University of Iowa Museum of Art, 27 March 1999 - 23 May 1999; State University of New York, 26 September 1999 - 10 January 2000
Perspectives: African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection, organized by the Elvehjem Museum of Art (now called Chazen Museum of Art), 16 April 2004-15 May 2005