This head has several unusual features when compared with the bronzes of the Ife culture previously exhibited and depicted. The most striking of these are the facial features. Overall, it remains unclear to this day whether these realistic depictions are idealised or refer to specific individuals. In any case, this head has very unusual, Europeanised features, particularly the nose and mouth. This is not an entirely new finding. Looking at previous illustrations of this type, this assumption may well have been made earlier. However, the impression was particularly strong with this head.

A second striking feature is the patina. When restoring an object, one chooses between two different methods. The gallery’s method involves cleaning the object and then carefully polishing it with a natural, low-grease cloth such as sheep’s wool. This ensures that the patina, which has developed over decades or centuries, remains clearly visible.

The second method is to treat the object after cleaning with the original product, just as it was treated when first made. This is usually a plant-based decoction designed to protect the surface and give it a largely uniform sheen, which masks old traces of corrosion or discolouration caused by metal migration within the alloy. An object of this kind, which was presumably embellished in a guild workshop for sale, is extremely difficult to date. Much like a museum restoration, the object becomes more attractive, but is difficult to distinguish from a new reproduction when it comes to valuation in the trade.

Perforations around the mouth, continuing on both sides in a fine line towards the very naturalistically rendered ears, suggest that a moustache and a thin sideburn were sparingly woven in for special occasions. A headdress was probably fastened along the hairline;

The incredible elegance of the artistic craftsmanship and the excellent state of preservation make this object an absolute masterpiece, unrivalled on an international scale. All these attributes place this object on a par with the finest Ife heads in the British Museum.

Translated with DeepL.com

Vgl.:
Frank WILLETT: Ife. Metropole afrikanischer Kunst. Bergisch Gladbach 1967, S. 36.

Barbara PLANKENSTEINER (Hg.): Benin. Könige und Rituale. Höfische Kunst aus Nigeria. Wien 2007, S. 272.

Stefan Eisenhofer: Ife und die Chronologie der Benin-Bronzen