Ancestral Commemorative Head (uhunmwun-elao)
possibly mid-1500s or early 1600s
- Medium
- Copper alloy and iron
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- Overall: 29.9 x 21.6 x 20.4 cm (11 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 8 1/16 in.)
- Culture
- Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, African Art
- Credit line
- Dudley P. Allen Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Brass heads are among many objects a new Ọba commissions when dedicating a shrine to their predecessor. This head of an Ọba wears layered necklaces of royal coral beads. Tubular beads adorn both the netted cap and slender braids alongside his temples. While representing an individual, his facial features and calm expression are idealized. The thickly cast head once supported a tusk. Immune to corrosion, brass symbolizes royal permanence. A personal religious object, this head sat on an ancestral altar in the Ọba’s palace. Like many works taken from Benin altars, this contrasts with its present-day public display in an American museum.
