Cast brass armlet with spiral design.

Collection type: Object
Description: Cast brass armlet with spiral design.
Geographical reference: Nigeria
Africa > Western Africa > Nigeria; Benin
Cultural groups: Edo
Person: Field collector George Le Clerc Egerton; Field collector 1897 Benin City "Punitive Expedition"; PRM source Dumas-Egerton Trust
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1897
Date collected: 1897
Acquisition information: Loaned: 1991
Materials and processes: Material Brass Metal, Process Cast
Dimensions: Height: max 130 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1991.13.13
Research and responses: Examined by Benin specialist Barbara Blackmun in July 1991. This piece is unique in her experience. [LMM 7 1991 ?; JC 9 7 2000]
The Dumas-Egerton Collection, of which this is part, was examined by Hermione Waterfield of Christie's in May 1984; see 'Part of the Nigerian Art Collected by Admiral Sir George Le Cler[c] Egerton on the Benin Expedition of 1897 on Deposit at Maidstone Museum' (copy in RDF). The entry for this object reads: 'A Benin armlet conceived as alternating copper and bronze spirals engraved with a central zigzag flanked by chevrons divided by a ridge, each end terminating in a crocodile head.' [JC 23 1 2002]
Associated publications: Reproduced in black and white as figure 596 on page 396 of Die Altertümer von Benin, by Felix von Luschan (Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1919; reprinted New York: Hacker Art Books, 1968). [LMM ?; JC 6 7 2000]

Search