Antique Works of Art from Benin: Collected by Lieutenant-General Pitt RiversPitt-Rivers, Augustus Henry Lane-Fox
History
Antique Works of Art from Benin: Collected by Lieutenant-General Pitt Rivers
Pitt-Rivers, Augustus Henry Lane-Fox
Art objects -- Nigeria -- Benin City -- Catalogs
Figs. 354 and 355.--Bronze staff, 4 feet 10-1/2 inches in length;
ornamented at top with the figure of a bird with a small ball in
its mouth, and apparently surmounting a leopard. Around it are ten
leaf-shaped flanges ornamented with sinuous serpents, holding birds and
crocodiles in their mouths. Below this is a human figure standing with
very large hands, apparently clasped, and thumbs projecting upwards,
out of all proportion to the size of the body; on the shoulders of this
figure are two sinuous snakes. Below this are figures representing a
monkey and a bull. The central figure is nude and kneeling with a
cock in its hands, resting on a cluster of hanging bells. The lower
part, which is broken and detached from the upper part, represents a
human figure; in his left hand a large neolithic celt, and in his right
hand a human-headed staff, similar in design to Figs. 279 and 280,
Plate XXXVI. Below and in front of this figure are smaller figures,
representing a human figure with a neolithic celt in the right hand
and a spotted leopard, with tail curled over head, on the left. Rising
from the head of the larger figure is an antelope, with two snakes
springing out of its mouth, surrounded by representations of various
weapons, points upwards. The whole appears to be constructed of bronze,
surrounding an iron stem.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLVI.
Figs. 356 and 357.--Bronze staff, surmounted by a vulture holding
something in its beak, as in Figs. 286 to 288, Plate XXXVII; Fig. 271,
Plate XXXV, and Figs. 354 and 355, Plate XLV. In Fig. 139, Plate XXIII,
and in "Antiquities from Benin in the British Museum," Plate XXIX, Fig.
3, figures are shown holding these staves and striking them with rods.
Figs. 358 and 359.--Bronze seated figure, apparently of an European.
The dress has large buttons on one side. The hat, with brim, is
ornamented with chevrons filled with parallel straight lines; the
moustache very long; the nose aquiline and very large; the shoulders
guarded by "wings." Left hand and forearm broken.
Fig. 360.--Bronze or brass plaque, representing a figure standing to
front, holding a piece of ring-money (Manilla) in right hand, similar
to Plate XXI, Fig. 6, "Antiquities from Benin in the British Museum,"
where their use and form are discussed (p. 27). The dress has a single
row of buttons, somewhat similar to Fig. 247, Plate XXXII, where
however the coat is fastened with tags; the left hand is similarly
spread upon the chest. The face is prognathous, but with hooked nose.
The hat appears to be an European chimney-pot hat. Other cases of a
pleated kilt occur in Figs. 129, 235, 236, 247, 324, 325, and 361.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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