Other Owners, William Downing Webster; Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers; Farnham Museum, Farnham, Dorset; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York; William Buller Fagg
Accession book entry: : (for 1975.7.1 and .2): W. FAGG ESQUIRE, .... BARNES, LONDON SW13 9NQ. 2 specimens originally in the PITT RIVERS MUSEUM, FARNHAM and purchased by Mr Fagg from Parke-Bernet, NEW YORK, in 1965. Purchased by PITT RIVERS MUSEUM, OXFORD with the aid of a grant from the Purchase Grant Fund administered by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London... , NIGERIA, BENIN. Human figure of bronze wearing a rope harness, which passes over each shoulder and between the legs. Arms extended in front of chest, fingers curled onto palms. Flat topped cranium. Tasselled “scarf” round neck. Mr Fagg considered that “the figure was probably detached from a plaque or possibly from a smaller pendant of shield shape and represents a kind of ritual acrobatics formerly enacted once a year and called amofi’. A complete plaque is in LAGOS MUSEUM (ex. Rawson collection). Mr H. Ling Roth believed this represented a cure for cretinism (Ref. Reliquary. Vol. IV, 1898, p. 173.) Specimen depicted and described by General Pitt Rivers... [see reference below]. Length 11.3 cm. Max. width 5.5 cm.’; Accession book entry: : Samples have been taken for analysis prior to accessioning (1 large, 3 small holes in base).’; Documentation: : See file 202.4, Vol II, `Purchase grants', and 002.50 letter 12. [Neither in RDF 18 5 1997; JC]
Research Notes: Illustrated and described on page 1,711 in volume 5 of the manuscript catalogue of General Pitt-Rivers's 'second' collection, held in the Department of Manuscripts and University Archives at Cambridge University Library (MSS Add.9455): 'Date: 1898 Aug 13 / Drawing and Description of object: Bt of Webster (cont’d) ... Human naked figure of bronze. A large thick plaster covers the whole of the back, and is fastened on with cords round the arms and legs. Mr H. Ling Roth believes this to represent a cure for cretinism & says that two larger figures like it have been seen in Benin City (”Reliquary” vol IV 1898 p. 173) Benin [2 Drawings annotated 1/2] / Added: P.48 / Price: £6.13 / Deposited at: Room 7 case 73 [in red] / Removed to: '. [AP 22/03/2010; JC 12 9 2013]