Wooden casket, overlaid with brass. Base [.1], lid [.2]. In the shape of a cow's or antelope's head. Both of these animals are used for sacrifices to the gods. Boxes like this are for kola nuts: they are owned by chiefs and used for ceremonial presentations to the Oba.

Collection type: Object
Description: Wooden casket, overlaid with brass. Base [.1], lid [.2]. In the shape of a cow's or antelope's head. Both of these animals are used for sacrifices to the gods. Boxes like this are for kola nuts: they are owned by chiefs and used for ceremonial presentations to the Oba.
Geographical reference: Nigeria
Africa > Western Africa > Nigeria; Benin City
Cultural groups: Edo
Person: Field collector 1897 Benin City "Punitive Expedition"; PRM source Charles G. Kingsley
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1897
Date collected: February 1897
Acquisition information: Donated: 09/1900
Materials and processes: Material Wood Plant, Material Brass Metal, Process Carved
Dimensions: Height: max 160 mm, Length: max 285 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1900.39.23.1 Accession number: 1900.39.23.2
Research and responses: This object is part of a collection documented as ‘from Benin city, taken during the punitive expedition under Admiral Rawson, February, 1897’. The objects in the collection were acquired by Mary Henrietta Kingsley before her death in June 1900. They were bequeathed to her brother Charles G. Kingsley, with the understanding that they would be transferred to the Pitt Rivers Museum after his death, however he arranged for them to be immediately presented to the Museum, where they entered the collection in September 1900. [JMC 14/04/2023]
Associated publications: Listed as number 73 on page 11 of Art from the Guinea Coast (Pitt Rivers Museum, Illustrated Catalogue No. 1), Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum (1965): 'NIGERIA Midwest Region ... 73. Box for valuables in form of cow's head, carved from wood and decorated with repoussée brass foil. Benin City (1900.39.23.) (28.5 cm.)'. (For details of exhibition, see under 'Display History'.) [JC 12 9 2013] Drawing of this object reproduced as figure 243 on page 213 of Great Benin, Its Customs, Art and Horrors, by H. Ling Roth (Halifax, F. King & Sons, 1903). [LMM 3 1991 ?; JC 7 7 2000] Listed as no B8/75 on p. 2.1.32 of An Illustrated Catalogue of Benin Art, by Philip J. C. Dark (Boston, MA: G. K. Hall, 1982). [JC 1995] Illustrated in colour on page 85 of Women of the World: Women Travelers and Explorers (Extraordinary Explorers), by Rececca Stefoff (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992). It is featured (along with eight other pieces from the PRM collections) in a special photographic section entitled 'Mary Kingsley's African Trophies' accompanying Stefoff's Chapter 5 'Mary Kingsley: Wandering through West Africa'. The photograph is captioned (same page): 'In Africa Kingsley encountered people who made all their dishes, tools, and clothing from the materials at hand. Everyday items like this covered bowl were often carved to resemble animals or decorated with designs. But although factory-made cloth and skillets from England could not match the beauty of traditional African household items, mass-produced trade goods were beginning to transform African life.' NB This is not an everyday object. Nor is Benin a good example of a society in which all objects were made from the materials to hand. (Copy in RDF: Biographies: Mary Kingsley.) [JC 11 9 2003]

Search terms: Box, Figure, Narcotic, Vessel, Food and Drink, Animal Figure, Food Accessory

Search

Further items to explore