Art Institute of ChicagoThe data was downloaded via a public data access of the institution.
Last Updated: 2021-02-08
Language: english
<p>During the 16th century, coastal trade made brass amply available in the Kingdom of Benin. King Esigie (reigned about 1504–about 1550) exploited the inflow by commissioning his court’s brass casters to make commemorative plaques for his palace. The warrior depicted here wears a coral-studded cap and collar indicating his rank. The horseshoe shape in the upper left corner represents a copper or brass ring known as a <em>manilla</em>. Manufactured in Europe, such rings were used as currency among the Benin people.</p>
33.9 × 28.8 × 4.7 cm (13 3/8 × 11 3/8 × 1 7/8 in.)
classification_titlesobject type plaque (flat object); metal; arts of Africa; sculpture; african art
brass (alloy); edo (african); warriors; plaque (flat object); casting (process); Audit 2020; ArtResource; metal; May 2020; arts of Africa; Arts of Africa; metal; Coastal West Africa; sculpture; african art; african Art; benin kingdom; metalworking; currency; Rank; royal; status; commemoration
subject_titlesiconography warriors; currency; Rank; royal; status; commemoration
casting (process); metalworking
provenance_textprovenance Oba Ovonramwen (died 1914), Benin City, before 1897; taken during the British military raid by George W. Neville (died 1929), Weybridge, England, 1897; by descent to his heirs, 1929; sold, Foster, London, May 1, 1930, lot. 53 [according to correspondence with Jean-Louis Paudrat in curatorial object file] to Ernest Ascher (died early 1970s), Paris, to at least July 15, 1932 [Jean-Louis Paudrat correspondence mentioned above]. Paul Vamos, Paris, Nov. 25, 1932. Ladislas Szecsi (Ladislas Segy, died 1988), Paris then New York, by March 1933; sold to the Art Institute, 1933.
Edo, Kingdom of Benin
Nigeria
Coastal West Africa
exhibition_historyexhibition history Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Benin, Sept. 21–November 17, 1968, cat. 19.
New Orleans, La., Delgado Museum, January 30, 1969.
Vienna, Museum fur Völkerkunde, Benin–Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria, May 9–Sept. 3, 2007, cat. p. 241 (ill); traveled to Paris, Musée du quai Branly, Oct. 2, 2007–Jan. 6, 2008; Ethnologisches Museum-Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Feb. 7–May 25, 2008; Art Institute of Chicago, July 10–Sept. 21, 2008.
publication_historybibliography Helen MacKenzie, Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 28, no.2 (Feb.1934), pp. 19–20 (ill.).
Allen Wardwell, PrimitiveArt in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1965), pl. 47.
Melville Herskovits, The Backgrounds of African Art (New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1967), p. 24 (ill.).
Mary Hancock Buxton, Benin. Exh. cat. (Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1986), cat. 19 (ill).
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, "African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago," African Arts, vol. 32, no. 4 (Winter 1999), p. 24, fig. 8.
Barbara Plankensteiner, ed. Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria. Exh. cat. (Kunsthistorisches Museum mit MVK und OTM/Snoeck Publishers, 2007), pg. 241 (ill.)
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 31, pp. 92-94 (ill.).
fc361495-826f-3ef9-32d3-da3eac34c34a
https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/15457
TM-33; TM-14182; TM-13; TM-13486
TM-14183; TM-13566; TM-13489; TM-12928
TM-12220; TM-13618; TM-13797; TM-13630; TM-12942
TM-11944; TM-33; TM-14182; TM-13; TM-13486
has_educational_resources false
2021-02-01T22:33:56-06:00
2020-12-21T14:25:17-06:00
publishing_verification_level Web Cataloged
TM-6251; TM-14183; TM-13566; TM-13489; TM-12928
edo (african); Arts of Africa; Coastal West Africa; african Art; benin kingdom
TM-12154; TM-12220; TM-13618; TM-13797; TM-13630; TM-12942
2021-02-08T12:51:28-06:00