ObjectID: 69020
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2 images
Institution data
Internal Data (eng)Internal Data (eng)
Brooklyn Museum
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Last Updated: 2021-06-30
Language: English
ObjectIDObject ID
69020
Box with lid
DescriptionDescription
Rectangular carved wooden box and lid with incised decoration. Lid has two carved illustrations that face in opposite directions from each other making it necessary to turn the box 180 degrees to see each carved illustration clearly. One illustration depicts a European seated on a chair with a utensil in his hands. A cup, pitcher, and four bottles are on a table in front of him; the other illustration shows a woman holding a sword in one hand and a spear in the other with a male attendant carrying a knife in a sheath across his chest on his proper left side, while holding a musical instrument horizontally in front of his face. The sides of the box show a man drinking while carrying an umbrella, a warrior holding a severed head, two headless bodies, a second warrior holding a gun, and a couple having intercourse. Three interior portions/chambers.
MediumMaterial
Wood
DimensionsDimensions
4 7/16 × 27 7/8 × 7 5/8 in. (11.3 × 70.8 × 19.3 cm)
InscriptionsInscriptions
Alpha Sort 2Date Made
second half of 19th century
Begin DateDate Made
1850
GeographyProduction Place
Place made: Benin City, Royal Court of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria, Africa
Credit LinePrior Source
Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos
ProvenanceProvenance
Prior to 1953, provenance not yet documented; before 1953, reportedly Julius Carlebach, New York; by 1953, acquired by Millicent A. Rogers; 1953, Millicent A. Rogers to Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, by descent; 1956, gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos to the Brooklyn Museum.
Alpha SortEthnic Attribution
Edo
MakerEthnic Attribution
Edo
Exhibition HistoryExhibition History
"Benin - Court Arts from West Africa." Museum für Völkerkunde, Vienna, May 8 - September 3, 2007; Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, October 2, 2007 - January 6, 2008; Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, February 7, 2007 - May 25, 2008; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, June 27, 2008 - September 21, 2008. New York University, the Grey Art Gallery, New York, NY, "Images of power: art of the royal court of Benin," January 23 - February 21, 1981. Dartmouth College, "Nigerian Splendor," April 11 - May 5, 1980.
Published ReferencesBibliography
Menut, Nicolas. L'homme blanc: les représentations de l'occidental dans les arts non-européens. Paris: Editions du Chêne, 2010, 72-3.Girshick (Ben-Amos), Paula. "Omada Art at the Crossroads of Colonialism" in Images and Empires: Visuality in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002, pp 275-93. Fig. 11.3. Kaplan, Flora S., ed. "Images of Power: Art of the Royal Court of Benin." New York, NY: New York University, 1981, cat. 59. Hambly, 1930, pl. XXII.