Research Notes: Examined by Benin specialist Barbara Blackmun in July 1991. According to Blackmun, the Queen Mother wears the ede (vertical protrusion from the head believed to bridge human and spirit realms) on her coral hat, and coral beads with a large central bead of coral or 'Benin agate': this is a royal symbol. The two male attendants have chief's hairstyles and hold the flat bronze staffs carried when royal women walk in public. The female attendants have the scarifications typical of the Queen Mother's women and wear a variety of clothing: wrappers, skirts, overskirts and beads. Those with crest headdresses represent high-ranking women. The smaller female figures may be girls sent to the Queen's court to be brought up. The centre right female attendant carries a fan (used for cooling the spirits, as well as by women for sitting on). The centre left attendant carries a gourd covered with a coral bead net - this is shaken when praise songs are sung by women. At the front of the altarpiece are wedges of kola nut. The small female attendants may be carrying orhue, kaolin clay found at the riverbank. This is a pervasive religious substance: it is eaten to cool the stomach, painted on body and face and used for anointing at shrines. It is the essence of peace, joy and prosperity. The small figure at right front may be carrying a medicine horn with scented leaves to perfume the air. [LMM 7 1991 ?; JC 9 7 2000]
Extract from an e-mail from Barbara Blackmun to Jeremy Coote, dated 1 September 2000, in response to receiving a printout of this entry: '1991.13.25 Egerton - Queen Mother altarpiece. I gave the wrong impression about the word, "ede". It means "beaded crown" and does not refer to the vertical "oro" protrusion. The queen mother's headdress is considered "ede", but not "oro". It is the Oba's crown on which the beaded "oro" occurs. Certain chiefs also wear the "oro", but only the Oba's is covered in beads. (The rest of the information is fine.)' [JC 8 9 2000]
The Dumas-Egerton Collection, of which this is part, was examined by Hermione Waterfield of Christie's in May 1984; see 'Part of the Nigerian Art Collected by Admiral Sir George Le Cler[c] Egerton on the Benin Expeditionof 1897 on Deposit at Maidstone Museum' (copy in RDF). The entry for this object reads: 'A Benin altar for a Queen Mother, the figure of the Queen Mother flanked by female attendants who are preceded by four other females, all on a square raised base with square central hole, seven small figures about the sides against a guilloche background, corded border to flange base. 9 1/2 in. x 10 in. ' [JC 23 1 2002]