Exceptionally Rare Vintage Mid-Century Bearded Male BENIN BRONZE MASK
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Exceptionally Rare Vintage Mid-Century Bearded Male BENIN BRONZE MASK :
$1000.00
Exceptionally Rare Mid-Century Bearded Male BENIN BRONZE MASK. The Representation of the Europeanized Bearded Man is a Desirable and Atypical Form. From a Nicely Chosen Boston Collection. Measures About 10\" in Height.
Thepowerful ancient Benin kingdom was founded by the son of an Ife king in the early 14thcentury AD. It was situated in the forest area of southern Nigeria, 106 miles southeast ofIfe. The art of bronze casting was introduced around the year 1280. The kingdom reachedits maximum size and artistic splendor in the 15th and 16th century. For a long time theBenin bronze sculptures were the only historical evidence dating back several centuriesinto the West African past, and both the level of technical accomplishment attained inbronze casting, as well as the monumental vigor of the figures represented, were theobject of great admiration. Benin bronzes are better known than the artworks from Ife orOwo due to their presence in Western museums since 1890s. In the thirteenth century, thecity of Benin was an agglomeration offarms enclosed by walls and a ditch. Each clan was subject to the oba (king). The“Benin style” is a court art from the palace of the oba, and has nothingin common with tribal art. The Benin oba employed a guild of artisans who all livedin the same district of the city. Bronze figures ordered by the king were kept in thepalace. The empire flourished until 1897, when the palace was sacked by the English inreprisal for an ambush that had cost the British vice-consul his life.
Thenumerous commemorative brass heads, free-standing figures and groups, plaques in relief,bells and rattle-staffs, small expressive masks and plaquettes worn on the belt as emblemof offices; chests in the shape of palaces, animals, cult stands, jewelry, etc. cast byBenin metalworkers were created for the royal palace. The heads were placed on the altarsof kings, of brass caster corporation chiefs and dignitaries.The altar functioned as a tribute to the deceased and a point of contact with his spirit.Using the bells and rattle stuffs to call the ancestor’s spirit, the obaoffered sacrifices to him and to the earth on the altar. The majority of figuresrepresented court officials, equestrian figures, queens, and roosters.
When British forces entered Benin Cityin 1897 they were surprised to find large quantities of cast brass objects. Thetechnological sophistication and overwhelming naturalism of these pieces contradicted many19th-century Western assumptions about Africa in general and Benin –regarded as the home of ‘fetish’ and human sacrifice – in particular.Explanations were swiftly generated to cover the epistemological embarrassment. Theobjects must, it was supposed, have been made by the Portuguese, the Ancient Egyptians,even the lost tribe of Israel. Subsequent research has tended to stress the indigenousorigins of West African metallurgy. Yet it was the naturalism that proved decisive. Theirstatus was marked by the establishment of the term ‘Benin bronzes’, despitetheir being largely of brass.
Followingthe bloody British punitive expedition to Nigeria, about three thousand brass andwooden objects were consigned to the Western world. At that time, western scholars andartists were stunned by the quality and magnificence of these objects, more than 1,000brass plaques were appropriated from the oba’s palace. Dating from the 16thand 17th centuries, these plaques were secreted in a storage room. It isthought that they were nailed to palace walls and pillars as a form of decoration or asreferences to protocol. They show the oba in full regalia along with his nobility,warriors and Portuguese traders. The most elaborate ones display a procession of up tonine people, while others depict only fish or birds.
Themajority of everyday Benin objects were made for and associated with court ceremonies. Thefigures of a leopard were the sole property of the oba – the leopard was theroyal animal. Pectorals, hip and waist ornaments in the shape of human or animal headswere worn either by the oba or by major dignitaries. Brass staffs and clipperssurmounted by birds appeared during commemorating ceremonies.
Froo | Froo Cross Sell, Free Cross Sell, Cross promote, Marketing, listing Apps, Apps, ApplicationExceptionally Rare Vintage Mid-Century Bearded Male BENIN BRONZE MASK :
$1000.00