1991.13.21

Collection type

Object

Description

Cast and gilded brass cone with incised decoration and loops for attachment. These would have hung from the costume of a notable person and jingled as he moved. [presumably LMM 7 1991; JC 6 7 2000]

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: 1680-1730

Date collected

1897

Acquisition information

Loaned: 1991

Materials and processes

Material Brass Metal, Process Cast, Process Gilded, Process Incised

Dimensions

Length: max 75 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1991.13.21

Research and responses

Examined by Benin specialist Barbara Blackmun in July 1991. According to Blackmun, these were probably waist ornaments for the Oba. [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 1984, and a document, dated 7th December 1984, was produced with the title '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' (see RDF). The entry for this object (with 1991.13.22, 1991.13.23, 1991.13.24) reads: 'Four Benin conical gilt bells engraved with interlaced and square motifs on a stippled ground.' [JC 23 1 2002]

Examined by Hermione Waterfield on 29 January 2002. In an e-mail (not kept) of 30 January to Jeremy Coote, she pointed out how items with gilding can be dated to 'the period of the revival, i.e. 1680-1730', and that this item belongs to that period. [JC 30 1 2002]

Search terms: Music, Ornament, Status, Musical Instrument, Waist Ornament, Status Object, Rattle