Galerie Peter Herrmann

	Ancient Art from Africa - Benin

Benin, Nigeria
16th century
Bronze
26 cm

The latest research (Paula Ben-Amos et al.) interprets this as a trophy head depicting a powerful person who was recently conquered. The conquered king is said to have been decapitated as a symbol of the victor's triumph so that his head could be handed over to the bronze guild in Benin for casting.   This brutal course of action was only used in cases of particularly insurgent enemies and was meant to serve as warning to their followers. This head can be identified as a non-native (i.e. not from Benin) in large part because of its layered hairstyle, which was not common amongst the Edo people. It is thus interesting to compare this object with bronze plaques depicting figures with the same style. In this exhibition alone, six plaques feature protagonists with the "Ibo hairstyle," all either pages, chieftains, warriors or other adjuncts of the king, identifiable as high-ranking members of the royal court by their coral neck jewellery. The frequency and context of this hairstyle indicate a firm grounding in Benin's culture, suggesting   that the head shown here, which sports that very hairstyle, depicts not a rival or foe, but rather a member of the royal court - perhaps, as Willett suggests, even the king himself.

Every now and then, this type of head also appears with so-called "cat's-whiskers scars." Whether or not there is a connection between the two types of heads or whether a similar or even the same person made them has not yet been explored.

The object dates from the late 15 th to early 16 th century, a period most often designated in the literature as the early period of Beninese art. But if one believes that Benin's bronze casting tradition is, in fact, 1,000 years old - a contention strongly supported by the Ine of the bronze casters guild in Benin, Chief K. Osarhenhen Inneh - it would be more appropriate to refer to that time as a middle period.

Cp.:
Ekpo EYO, Frank WILLETT: Kunstschätze aus Alt-Nigeria, Mainz 1983, S. 136.
Paula Girshick BEN-AMOS: The art of Benin, London 1995, S. 26.
Barbara PLANKENSTEINER (Hg.): Benin. Könige und Rituale. Höfische Kunst aus Nigeria, Wien 2007, S. 373.

Sotheby's New York. 1986. Kopf Benin-Kultur. Keine Altersangabe. Keine Angabe zur Provenienz. € 683.904,-

Auktionshaus Koller. 2005. Kopf Benin-Kultur. Benin 17.-18 Jh. € 423.060,-