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Last Updated: 2021-02-13
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Idiophone/Staff (ahianmwẹn-ọrọ)
Idiophone/Staff (ahianmwẹn-ọrọ), possibly 1800s. Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild. Copper alloy; overall: 36.2 x 9.9 cm (14 1/4 x 3 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, James Albert Ford Memorial Fund 1938.5
wall_descriptiondescription Courtiers, priests, and senior chiefs strike instruments like this during the Ugie Ọrọ festival. The long-legged metal bird refers to the 16th-century ruler Ọba Ẹsigie. Wings outstretched with long, textured feathers, it is the <em>ahianmwẹn-ọrọ</em> (bird of prophecy). It stares outward, a likely magical substance clenched in its beak. Such a bird prophesied Ẹsigie’s defeat and death during the Idah War (about 1515–17), leading his people to resist fighting for him. When Ẹsigie triumphed, bronze bird effigies were beaten for days on end throughout the year. This punished the false avian prophet and shamed the cowardly men.
Overall: 36.2 x 9.9 cm (14 1/4 x 3 7/8 in.)
James Albert Ford Memorial Fund
provenance/0/descriptionprovenance Commissioned from the Igun Eronmwon
provenance/1/descriptionprovenance By descent to Ọba Ovọnramwẹn (Ovọnramwẹn Nogbaisi, [c. 1857–1914; r. 1888–97], Royal Palace, Benin City
provenance/2/descriptionprovenance Brought to Europe following the Siege of Benin
provenance/3/descriptionprovenance (Fosters & Co., London or France, probably sold to Louis Carré and/or Charles Ratton)
provenance/4/descriptionprovenance (Louis Carré, Paris, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, January 17, 1938)
provenance/5/descriptionprovenance The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild
exhibitions/legacyexhibition history Knoedlers, NY, Exhibition of Bronzes and Ivories from the Ancient Kingdom of Benin, November 25-December 4, 1935, cat. no. 28, fig. 28.<br>CMA 1937: Ivories and Bronzes from the Ancient Kingdom of Benin, cat. #28.<br>Seattle, WA, Seattle Art Museum, The Bird in Art, June 6-August 12, 1956.<br>Oberlin, OH, Allen Art Museum, Baldwin Lectures of Mr. Roy Sieber, March 5-March 31, 1972.
citations/0/citationbibliography Foote, Helen S. "Two Bronzes from Benin." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 25, no. 3 (1938): 48-50.
citations/0/page_numberbibliography Mentioned: p. 50; illustrated p. 48
citations/1/citationbibliography Lane, James W. "Current Exhibitions." <em>Parnassus </em>Vol. 7, no. VII (December 1935): 26-31, 35.
citations/2/citationbibliography "Au Cleveland Museum of Art." <em>Mouseion. </em>(April 1938) 13-14.
citations/3/citationbibliography Petridis, Constantine. "A World of Great Art for Everyone." In <em>Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display</em>. Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke, 104-121. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.
citations/4/citationbibliography <em>Bronzes and Ivories from the Old Kingdom of Benin: Exhibition from November 25 to December 14, 1935 At the Galleries of M. Knoedler and Company 14 East 57 Street New York City. </em>New York: M. Knoedler and Company, [1935].
citations/4/page_numberbibliography Mentioned: Fig. 28 (illustrated)
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https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1938.5/1938.5_full.tif
images/print/filenameimages 1938.5_print.jpg
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images/web/filenameimages 1938.5_web.jpg
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https://clevelandart.org/art/1938.5
former_accession_numbers/0 former_accession_numbers/1 2020-11-12 10:00:21.715000