The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 27, 2022

Ancestral Commemorative Head (uhunmwun-elao)

possibly mid-1500s or early 1600s

Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild

Copper alloy and iron

Overall: 29.9 x 21.6 x 20.4 cm (11 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 8 1/16 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund 1938.6

Location

108A Sub-Saharan

Fun Fact

The <em>obas</em> (kings) of the Benin Kingdom still wear coral headpieces and jewelry like this sculpted head depicts.

Description

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.

Provenance
Possibly mid-1500s or early 1600s.
Commissioned from the Igun Eronmwon
c.1857–1897
By descent to Ọba Ovọnramwẹn (Ovọnramwẹn Nogbaisi [c. 1857–1914; r. 1888–1897], Royal Palace, Benin City
1897
Brought to Europe following the Siege of Benin
c. 1929–1932
(Fosters & Co., London or France, probably sold to Louis Carré and/or Charles Ratton) 1
by at least 1937
(Louis Carré, Paris, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH January 17, 1938) 2
1938–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH 3

Provenance Footnotes

1 Per KWL email: 8/30/2021
Savoy, Bénédicte, Charlotte Guichard, and Christine Howald. 2018. Acquiring cultures: histories of
world art on Western markets. P. 274
2 Per email from KWL 8/30/2021
• Illustrated in Milliken, William M. "Treasure of Ivories and Bronzes from the Ancient Kingdom of
Benin." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 24, no. 3 (1937): 35-36
• Illustrated in Negatives 963447 and 963448, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives
3 Per email from KWL: 8/30/2021
Purchase/Carré provenance publicized in CMA Bulletin March 1938 (Helen S. Foote, “Two Bronzes
from Benin, pp. 49-50, 48)
Citations
Foote, Helen S. 1938. "Two Bronzes from Benin". Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 25: 48-50. mentioned p. 49; illustrated p. 48
Milliken, William M. "Treasure of Ivories and Bronzes from the Ancient Kingdom of Benin." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 24, no. 3 (1937): 35-36. illustrated, unnumbered plate
"Au Cleveland Museum of Art." Mouseion. (April 1938) 13-14. Mentioned: p. 13
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 386 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 303 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 303 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 411 archive.org
Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. Reproduced: cat. 25, p. 80 - 81
Petridis, Constantine. "A World of Great Art for Everyone." In Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display. Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke, 104-121. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011. Mentioned: p. 113, 119
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 31; Reproduced: P. 26-27
Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. “Art from the Benin Kingdom.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 34-35. Reproduced: P. 34; Mentioned: P. 35.
Exhibition history

CMA 1937: Ivories and Bronzes from the Ancient Kingdom of Benin, Bulletin XXIV (March 1937), repr. p. 34.

Washington, DC, Howard University, Founders Library Art Gallery, African Negro Art, May 1-May 31, 1953, cat. no. 33.

Cleveland, East Ohio Gas Company Building, "Seaway Luncheons," week of June 8, 1959.

The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).

Exhibition of the Month: Texture in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 6-December 8, 1947).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1938.6