The piece was previously in the collection of the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum. The Cranmore Ethnographical Museum was set-up by Harry Geoffrey and Irene Marguerite Beasley in 1928. This piece was part of the donation made by Irene M. Beasley to the British Museum in 1944, when the whole Beasley collection was distributed following H. G. Beasley's death in 1939.
In this strong art work emphasis is made on two main parts. The first is the soldier - European, possibly (probably) Portuguese – and the second is the stand which shows different sub-compositions and scenes on its top and sides. One interesting feature of the composition is the weaponry. While the musket and the two pistols had been identified as flintlocks made starting from late 17th century, one of the pistols at the figure’s feet is a Ripoll type and the other one is a trade gun produced in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Based on that it had been suggested that the piece could have been made sometime in the eighteenth century. Another interesting feature is that the costume does not correspond to the same period as the weaponry. That had let to suggest that different iconographical sources may have inspired the creation of the work. Bibliography Craddock, P. T. & Picton, J., Medieval Copper Alloy Production and West African Bronze Analyses – Part II, in Archaeometry, Vol. 28, Part 1, February 1986, Oxford
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 1993-1997, London, Museum of Mankind, Great Benin: a West African Kingdom 2005 Apr-Jul, BM, Views from Africa 2007 23 Jun-16 Sep, USA, Washington DC, Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M Sackler Gallery, Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries 2007 27 Oct-2008 3 Feb, Belgium, Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries