Part of a collection made by Hugh N Nevins, District Officer, Benin City, for the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum. Purchased by the WHMM on 15 January 1929 for £3.0.0.
Commemorative head, part of; made of terracotta. Human head with tiered hairstyle, two inset furrows on forehead. Remains of hole through centre of head.
The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum flimsy inventory card records: 'Head. Terra cotta, showing detail of headdress and necklet. Hole running through centre. Mask type. (No collar). Found on the Benin Ancestral altars. 8 1/2" high x 6 " wide. (The making of these heads is now virtually extinct).' See Collection File: Af1954,23.265-281. ~Register 1954 Another [clay human head] similar [to Af1954,23.270], neck broken off, hind part of the head missing, features much defaced.