German Contact Point for Collections from Colonial Contexts: Benin-Bronzes in Germany

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Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main: 01157




Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main: 01157




Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main: 01157




Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main: 01157

Object description
This information was provided by the German museum where the object is currently located or where it was located prior to restitution.

Object Name	Ancestor head
Description	So-called Udo head. Decorative scars, neck rings, row hairstyle. Rectangular hole in the neck. Dust patina. Casting defect on the right side. 1 braid old broken loose. "... Is a provincial style kope.... A head like this, along with several figures, comes from the small town of Udo, about 65 km from Benin. There are several such heads that we consider to belong to the Udo style, and since we cannot be more precise, we assume that the pieces were made there. Since they copy Early Period heads, they were felt to be of that period; but thermoluminescence data from two of these heads place them in the late 16th century-in other words, in the early part of the Middle Period (Willett 50) Inscription to Fig. 77: "16th/17th c. ... Udo sought to compete with Benin and this piece - along with 13 others - gives the Udo version of the commemorative heads ... again. ... The distinctly provincial Udo works reveal a vitality that those who copy them lack." PUBL Luschan v. 1919: Altertümer von Benin. I, 268, Tfl. 57, 58 Vatter Ernst. 1926: Religiöse Plastik der Naturvölker. Ffm. Abb. 96 und p. 187 Rachewiltz. Boris. 1960: Afrikanische Kunst. Abb. 14 LIT Kat Pitt Rivers 1976 pl XXIV, 149/50 - head of a girl Dark 1982: ill 4 Willett/Eyo. 1980: Kunstschätze aus Alt-Nigeria. Mainz
Type	Rite/Cult
Materials	Brass casting/Yellow casting; brass with approximately equal amounts of tin, lead and zinc in the lower concentration range and elevated trace element concentrations.
Size, Dimensions	Height: 21.5 cm
Dating of Object

Museum / Collection / Acquisition
This information was provided by the German museum where the object is currently located or where it was located prior to restitution.

Museum	Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Museum Inv.-No	01157
Collector
Acquisition date
Circumstances of acquisition	- […]: Unknown - 1905/1906: Städtisches Völkermuseum, Frankfurt; Acquisition from unknown

Notes

Current ownership status and location

Status
Date of last status change
Current ownership
Holding institution
Current location

Categorization for the search functions
This information was included by the German Contact Point for Collections from Colonial Contexts and is intended to make the object easier to find in the database.

Object Type
Materials	metal; brass
Tags

Dataset

ID	1178
last Change	2022-02-03 11:42:17
License	Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main

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