This object was purchased by the donor at a Stevens auction on 24 August 1897. It is described in the catalogue as 'Girl's head in bronze', Lot 218. It previously formed part of the collection of Sir Arthur Vyell Vyvyan who served on the British Expeditionto Benin City.
Commemorative head of Queen Mother; lost-wax cast in brass. Naturalistic, almost life-size female head with curving conical hairstyle covered with openwork coral bead net; long strings of coral beads at sides and back. Wears high coral bead collar. Two vertical marks on forehead originally inset with iron; four scarification marks above each eye. Pupils inlaid with iron.
A brass head representing Queen Mother Idia was made to be placed on her altar following her death. It is said that Oba Esigie instituted the title of Queen Mother and established the tradition of casting heads of this type in honour of her military and ritual powers. ~Read & Dalton 1899: Head of a young woman. She wears a high pointed head-dress formed of a network of beads, from the lower end of which depends a fringe formed of strings of similar beads. Like Af1897,1217.3 she has four cicatrices on each eyebrow, and two bands between, but these latter, like the pupils of the eyes, are inlaid with iron. The perfection of the work both from the technical and the artistic points of view would indicate that it belongs to the earlier period of these works of art. This specimen, presented by Sir William Ingram, Bart., in 1897, appears like Af1897,1217.3 to be of considerable antiquity, being covered in the same way with a fine green patina.~From Exhibition Label "commemorative head for altar, probably representing Idia, the mother of Oba (King) Esigie of Benin".
Exhibited: 1970-1973, London, Museum of Mankind, Divine Kingship in Africa 1991 Feb-Apr, Norwich, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Man and Metal in Ancient Nigeria 1997-1998 Sep-Jan, Osaka, National Museum of Ethnology, Images of Other Cultures 1998, Feb-Apr, Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Images of Other Cultures 2013 July-November, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Origins of the Afro Comb