BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Nigeria; Benin Kingdom artist Head of an Oba Bronze H. 29.2 cm (11 1/2″) Indiana University Art Museum, 75.98 Other types, however, are indisputably commemorative heads to be placed on the altars of former kings. Carved ivory tusks are placed in the top, for ivory was another material reserved for royalty, and there are special guilds of artists … Continue reading ARTS OF BENIN KINGDOM (part four)

BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Nigeria; Edo artist (Benin Kingdom Court Style) Commemorative trophy head Late 15th-early 16th century Copper alloy, iron inlay H x W x D: 23.2 x 15.9 x 20 cm (9 1/8 x 6 1/4 x 7 7/8 in.) Purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program 82-5-2 Photograph by Franko Khoury National Museum of African Art … Continue reading ARTS OF BENIN KINGDOM(part three)

BY WILLIAM DEWEYPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF IOWA) Nigeria; Benin Kingdom artist Leopards Bronze L. 69 cm (27 3/16”) National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria, 52.13.1, 52.13.2 Photo by Dirk Bakker This pair of leopards, probably from the sixteenth-century, are actually water vessels (aquamanile), which are used for making ritual ablutions by pouring the water out through the nostrils. Such cast leopards were kept on the royal ancestral … Continue reading ARTS OF BENIN KINGDOM ( part two)