Linden-Museum Stuttgart: F 50565
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| Linden-Museum Stuttgart: F 50565 License: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) |
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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 | Ceremonial hip pendant carved in honor of Queen Mother Idia. Materials: ivory, coral, glass beads, plant fiber |
| Description | One of the most valuable pieces of the Benin collection is this miniature ivory mask. There are only about 4 comparable pieces in the world. According to museum records, it was found in 1897 in the bedchamber of the reigning King Ovonramwen and stolen. So it was obviously honored and guarded as an ancestral object for centuries. Depicted is the Queen Mother ("Iyoba") Idia, mother of the 17th Oba Esigie (reigned 1504-1550). The queen mothers generally had a very strong and independent position in the kingdom. They raised the future king, but lived in their own palace after his enthronement. The incumbent Oba was not allowed to have direct contact and sought their advice through third parties. Some, like the highly revered Idia in particular, also appeared as great army commanders. Idia thus secured her son's rule against opponents both within and without. Her political advice was as important as her magical powers and her knowledge of "medicine". Accordingly, Idia is depicted here with stylized catfish above her head (the trembling catfish can deliver dangerous electric shocks). The ornamental scars on her forehead were inlaid with iron. Around her face she wears yellow glass and red coral beads, valuable trade goods from the Portuguese, who had shortly before established trade contacts with Benin. The large, slightly protruding eyes are typical of the representation of ancestors. The mask was worn during important ceremonies at the royal court. It is possible that the king wore it on his belt, as is documented for various mask types in Benin. This is contradicted by the lack of fastenings such as bars, as well as the patina on the back of the object. It is therefore also conceivable that it was worn in another way, for example hanging in front of the chest. Text: Dietmar Neitzke. |
| Type | Maske |
| Materials | Ivory; Coral; Glass |
| Size, Dimensions | Width: 10 cm. Height: 21 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 | Linden-Museum Stuttgart |
| Museum Inv.-No | F 50565 |
| Collector | John and Gertrude Hunt (London, UK) |
| Acquisition date | 1964 (Dating: 16th century - to be confirmed) |
| Circumstances of acquisition | It is said that the mask was found hidden in an oak box in the bedroom of King Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (c.1850-1914) during the storming of Benin City. Only a few months later it came into the hands of the ethnographica dealer William Downing Webster (1868-1913) through the auction house J.C. Stevens. Webster sold it to Augustus Pitt Rivers (1827-1900) for £25 in April 1898. The object remained in the private collection of the Pitt Rivers family in Farnham (Dorset, southern England) until the 1930s, when the grandson, George Pitt Rivers (1890-1966), gave it to the dealer couple John (1900-1976) and Gertrude Hunt (1903-1995). In 1964, the Hunts finally sold the carving from their private collection in Ireland to the Linden Museum. Text: Christoph Rippe. |
| Notes |
Current ownership status and location
| Status | restituted |
| Date of last status change | 14 December 2022 |
| Current ownership | Federal Republic of Nigeria |
| Holding institution | National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM, Nigeria) |
| Current location | National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM, Nigeria) |
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 | pendant |
| Materials | ivory; glass |
| Tags |
Dataset
| ID | 170 |
| last Change | 2023-01-26 12:15:00 |
| License | Linden-Museum Stuttgart |