Edo, Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria, 18th century
Cast copper alloy
Height 6 inches (15.2 cm)
Provenance: London trade; private collection, Paris
The plaque is cast as a shield shaped ground with a single standing attendant worked in high relief across its face, the figure's arms bent so that both hands meet at the waist and the feet projecting free at the lower edge. A tall conical cap sits above a face with wide open eyes and a small mouth, flanked by side pieces descending to the shoulders, and below the waist a patterned wrapper is indicated by dense incised registers. Rows of small cast loops run down both edges of the plaque, three surviving on one side and four on the other with a further projection at the lower right, and the surface is dark and pitted with the relief worn back where the metal stood proudest.
Pendant plaques of this kind hung from the hip at the waist as part of Benin court dress, and the loops along the edges carried the small cast bells and rattling attachments that completed them. The subject is a court attendant rather than a titleholder, identifiable from the plain conical cap and the absence of the coral regalia reserved for higher rank. Cast openwork of this weight was made to be seen in movement, and the losses along the loop rows are the expected point of failure on a pendant that was worn.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Edo, Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria, 18th century
Cast copper alloy
Height 6 inches (15.2 cm)
Provenance: London trade; private collection, Paris
The plaque is cast as a shield shaped ground with a single standing attendant worked in high relief across its face, the figure's arms bent so that both hands meet at the waist and the feet projecting free at the lower edge. A tall conical cap sits above a face with wide open eyes and a small mouth, flanked by side pieces descending to the shoulders, and below the waist a patterned wrapper is indicated by dense incised registers. Rows of small cast loops run down both edges of the plaque, three surviving on one side and four on the other with a further projection at the lower right, and the surface is dark and pitted with the relief worn back where the metal stood proudest.
Pendant plaques of this kind hung from the hip at the waist as part of Benin court dress, and the loops along the edges carried the small cast bells and rattling attachments that completed them. The subject is a court attendant rather than a titleholder, identifiable from the plain conical cap and the absence of the coral regalia reserved for higher rank. Cast openwork of this weight was made to be seen in movement, and the losses along the loop rows are the expected point of failure on a pendant that was worn.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
