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1980.19.1

Animal figure (hippo) for the top of a staff of office.

1980.19.1

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Collection type
Object
Description
Animal figure (hippo) for the top of a staff of office.
Geographical reference
Nigeria
Africa > Western Africa > Nigeria
Benin
Cultural groups
Edo
Person
Field collector Unknown Collector
PRM source Unknown Source
Date / Period
Date made: Circa 1900?, uncertain
Date collected
By 1980 probably 1897
Acquisition information
Found unentered: 1980
Materials and processes
Material Metal, Process Cast
Dimensions
Height: max 110 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1980.19.1
Research and responses

This object is identical to the finial on a chief's staff of office listed in two Christies Catalogues of 1980: Christies CATALOGUE OF TRIBAL ART, Tuesday April 3, 1979, Lot 190, pl 21; and May 13 1980, p. 45 no. 205 and plate (see photos in RDF). Tim Teuton considers the two sales to be the same object. The Christies object is described as a Nigerian Chief's staff of office from Southern Nigeria, Central Province, along with the following information: "The name 'Nigeria' was not coined (by Lady Lugard) until 1900, and this relic of the Colonial Government would have been issued between February 1906 and 1 January 1914 (confirmed with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Library as the period of currency of the term 'Central Province'). The hippopotamus suggests that the holder would probably be one of the influential Opobo chiefs (e.g. Cookey Gam, Tom West India, Sunday Jaja) or perhaps the Kalabari chiefs (one of the most powerful of whose masks for the Owu play is otobo, the hippopotamus) or the Urhobo chiefs, in whose country was Worri (the headquarters of the Native Council of friendly chiefs in the Central Province)."

Search terms: Insignia, Status, Figure, Staff, Animal Figure