Hen, 1900s. Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, member(s) of the Igbesanmwan (wood and ivory carvers) guild. Wood; overall: 47.6 cm (18 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White 1973.221
Materials used for ritual objects correspond with the status of their owner, or the person it was dedicated to. Men have cast brass roosters, while women have carved wooden hens like this. This egg-shaped bird is covered with patterns formed by parallel lines indicating the bird’s feathers, from fluffy tufts to sleek plumage. Realistically carved, it replicates an animal that would be sacrificed on a woman’s shrine. On an ancestral altar, it sat alongside other objects like rattle staffs. While Benin is patriarchal (men and their male sons lead), women are important; men cannot succeed spiritually or politically without them.
CMA 1968: "African TribalImages: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 150, repr.<br>CMA 1974: "Year in Review 1973," CMA Bulletin LXI (Feb., 1974), p. 71, no. 13.<br>Bloomfield Hills, MI, Cranbrook Academy Museum, 1975: "The Cult of the Ancestor."