Other Owners, Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers; 15 November 1965, purchased at Sotheby's London in the name of K. J. Hewett by Charles Ratton; 1966, purchased from Ratton by the PRM
Accession book entry: : ‘Monsieur Charles RATTON, ... PARIS, 8e. bronze [sic] head bought by Charles Ratton in Sotheby’s sale (“BENIN”) of 15 November 1965, for £2,800 - LOT 137 - in the name of K. J. Hewett. This piece was the subject of an appeal to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art on 31.1.1965, at which its export to Paris was authorised. Following negotiations it was purchased from Chas. Ratton (see files [not in RDF as at 16 5 1997; JC]). NIGERIA, BENIN KINGDOM, (UDO) bronze [sic] head in the style attributed to UDO, a town about 24 miles West of BENIN CITY. Probably 17th or 18th Century. This head is believed to have been used like the uhumwelao heads of the BENIN court style (such heads have been made for the last 4 1/2 centuries) and set up on a low earthern altar, dedicated to the cult of the king’s ancestors. The attribution to UDO is based on 1) the conformity of this style with traditions of African tribalsculpture rather than with the typical BENIN formal court style, and 2) the fact that three bronze figures of the same style (a Portuguese officer and two other ranks which seem to be naive copies of earlier figures in the formal court style) came from UDO. (They were formerly in the Oba’s (king’s) possesssion at Udo and were taken “by the European (K. C. Murray, Surveyor of Antiquities) about 20 years ago” , and are now in the Benin Museum. Information provided by W. B. Fagg, Deputy Keeper, Department of Ethnography, British Museum. [Signed] B. E. B. Fagg (1.xii.1966).’; Accession book entry: : [added] - ‘A. [drawing] drilling for bronze sample taken by Mrs. A. MILLETT. B. Sample for thermoluminescence taken from interior clay core remnants just below & in front of the right ear by Mrs CYNTHIA WEBBER. 13 December, 1966. Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art.’ (Another entry gives details of the article by Fleming and Fagg detailed below.)