Register 1954 Cast brass, lidded bowl, with engraved decoration of guilloche and flower motifs; embossed human heads and snakes and miniature bells attached by metal loops. See also p.102 [in register] 780(a)-(p). another Benin brass casting.~Plankensteiner 2007: Brass vessels of this kind are used by the Oba in the main annual ritual honouring his royal ancestors, Ugie Erha Oba. According to Bradbury (1958:2), at Otue, the greeting ceremony on the first day of Ugie Erha Oba, the members of the herbalist’ guild, Ewaise, bring this vessel filled with ‘medicine’, powerful herbal mixtures, to the king, who taps the lid four times while they pray for him to sit firmly on the throne. Alternating on the surface of this vessel are two types of bells, crotal (egheghan) and waisted (eroro) both of which have European prototypes. Crotal bells in particular appear in 16th and 17th century plaques attached to tunics as part of the regalia of a warrior (Dark 1960: pl. 15) and as attachments to small hip masks worn by the Oba when he is in full regalia at a ceremony (Dark 1960: pl. 15) and as attachments to small hip masks worn by the Oba when he is in full regalia at a ceremony (Dark 1960: pl. 30-32). This accords well with trade records which show that Benin was importing small bells from British and European sources as early as the late 16th century (Ryder 1969: 340), a practice that continued through the 18th century (Ryder 1969: 321). At the centre of the lid and around the top and bottom portions are images of a human face with the type of male hairstyle commonly found in Benin art (e.g. on the tops of rattle staffs or chiefly hip masks). In most cases it is a generalized image of an ancestor. The snakes descending from the top of the vessel may be pythons, messengers of Olokun, god of the sea, sent to the settled land to protect the king. Such snakes are depicted descending the turrets of the palace (Ben-Amos 1995: 44, pl.30) and on the elongated cone of Oduduwa masks (Ben-Amos 1995: 118, pl. 98). This vessel dates to the 18th or 19th centuries. A vessel with a similar iconography and style is in the Pitt Rivers Museum (Ben-Amos 1995: 104, pl.83
Exhibitions Loans and Displays - Current and Pastexhibition history Exhibited: 1970-1973, London, Museum of Mankind, Divine Kingship in Africa 2007 May-Sept, Vienna, Museum für Völkerkunde, Benin. Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria 2007-2008 Oct-Jan, Paris, Musée du quai Branly, Benin. Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria 2008 Feb-May, Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum, Benin. Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria 2008 Jun-Sept, Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Benin. Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria