- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Miniature brass imitation of stone axe (thunderbolt emblem).
- Cultural groups
- Edo
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1909
- Date collected
- By 1909; possibly 1897
- Acquisition information
- Purchased: 1909
- Materials and processes
- Material Brass Metal, Process Lost Wax Cast
- Dimensions
- Length 25 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1909.61.1
- Research and responses
This object is part of a set purchased from antiquities dealer William Downing Webster in 1909. They had been purchased by Webster on 30th November 1909 at the sale of ‘the Collection of Dr. W. J. Ansorge’ at Stevens Auction Rooms. The seven pendants are likely to be part of lot 135, listed in the sales catalogue as "Necklet consisting of 20 bronze triangular pendants. It is said that only Pages in attendance on the King of Benin were allowed to wear such a pendant, and then only on certain special occasions in the year."
William John Ansorge, a physician, was posted as medical officer in Uganda from 1895 to 1898. He is listed in the Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls in 1902 for the Aro Expedition of 1901-02. [JMC 14/04/2023]
- Associated publications
- Illustrated by a line-drawing (by Henry Balfour) as Figure 11 in Plate II (facing page 170) in ‘Concerning Thunderbolts (Continued)’, by H[enry]. Balfour, in Folk-Lore, Vol. 40, no. 2 (30 June 1929), pp. 168–72. Caption (page 170) for Figures 10–14: ‘Figs. 10–14—Small bronze pendants in the form of miniature neolithic celts, with perforations for suspension. Benin, Nigeria. These appear to have been cast by the cire perdue process. 10 [1909.61.7] is exactly modelled upon the almond-shaped stone celt type with strongly convex surfaces; the double zigzag design may, perhaps, symbolise lightning. 11 [1909.61.1] is of flatter shape and undecorated. 12 [1909.61.3] has flat surfaces and squared margins. 13 [1909.61.4] has facetted margins and is embellished with a chopper-like design. 14 [1909.61.6] has the design in relief and the squared lateral margins are transversely grooved. These mimic celts in bronze may, no doubt, be regarded as thunder or lightning symbols, the emblems of the Thunder-god, and as typifying the actual stone celts, which throughout West Africa are recognised as “thunderbolts,” “god-axes,” etc.’ [JC 4 12 2014] Listed as no B9/49 on p. 2.1.33 and nos G4/74 - G4/79 on p. 2.1.79 in An Illustrated Catalogue of Benin Art, by Philip J. C. Dark (Boston, MA: G. K. Hall, 1982). [JC 1995]
1909.61.1
Miniature brass imitation of stone axe (thunderbolt emblem).
1909.61.1
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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