Catalogue 2723/5211

CATALOGUE

CATALOGUE 2723/5211

Borrowing the language of indices from the field of physical computation, we can describe cultural artifacts as physical repositories of information. Equipped with the right vocabulary, syntax, and frame of reference, we can begin to read the stories of their making and the processes of their fabrication. Where oral histories pass these traditions down, these indices have always complemented each retelling.

Benin’s stolen cultural artifacts, such as the bronze heads and ivory pendant masks, are indices of centuries-long indigenous crafting practices passed down from father to son. We can see and—if the proper permissions are provided—feel the results of each craftperson’s design decisions. Photographs fail to capture the wealth of information held within each item. Take the Bronze and brass heads, plaques, and pendants, for example. Edo bronze and brass works are part of an 800-year-old tradition sustained by the work and expertise of the families that are part of the guild of bronze and brass casters. They use a process known as lost wax casting that requires a mastery of metallurgy, pottery, sculpture, and patience.

Every bronze piece begins with a red clay base that a bronze caster covers in a layer of malleable pale yellow wax. The bronze caster adds and removes wax until their envisioned design is visible. The details of the wax figure will be present in the final bronze head, so the work must be handled with great precision. The caster adds more clay and fires the vessel until the soft wax melts and the resultant indentations in the mud harden into an appropriate crucible for the metal smelting at the exterior bellows. The molten bronze or brass is poured into the mold. The artisan must endure a long and slow wait before the unveiling of either a great success or a tainted piece. This is arduous and capital-intensive work. To learn and to practice, to make and to perfect.

Both volumes of this catalogue collect and organize the images of the 5211 Edo artifacts and indices documented by Digital Benin. Each image represents an item. Each white box represents missing images. Each green box represents existing images whose use is not governed by the Creative Commons Licence.

Of the 131 institutions recorded here, only two are in Nigeria.

- Elizabeth Ogunsanya

William Charles Giffard; Rollin & Feuardent // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Linden-Museum Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Stuttgart; Schmidt, Eduard; Schoeller, Max // Lothrop, Samuel Kirkland; Tozzer, Margaret Castle // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Heneker, William Charles Giffard // Rautenstrauch, Theodor ‘Theo’; Smith, F. // Armitage, Cecil Hamilton; Barclay (born Cockin), Celia Alice Mary; Barclay Gordon; Cockin, Maurice Stanley; Cockin, Mrs. // Joss, Jerome Lionel; Pitt-Rivers (Lane Fox), Augustus Henry; Scheinberg, Alfred L. // Joss, Jerome Lionel; Scheinberg, Alfred L. // Croft-Murray, Edward // Bates, Oric; Oldman, William Ockelford // Allman, Robert B.; Carré, Louis; Foster’s; ; Gurlitt, Hildebrand; Ratton, Charles Alfred Mariuss // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Webster (born Cutter), Eva Amarantha; Webster, William Downing // Bey, Heinrich; British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin; Knize, Frederick; Museum of Primitive Arts, New York; Parke-Bernet Galleries; Rockefeller, Nelson Aldrich; Speyer, Arthur Max Heinrich // E. Wiggerts & Co.; Wiggerts, Eduard // Delacorte Gallery // Langerbein, Hugo // Colonial Government of Nigeria; Sotheby’s // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Kingsley, Charles G.; Kingsley, Mary Henrietta // Laurence; Oldman, William Ockelford // Hewett, Kenneth John; Pitt-Rivers (Lane Fox), Augustus Henry; Ratton, Charles Alfred Mariuss; Sotheby’s // Eyo, Ekpo // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Entwistle Gallery; Entwistle, Lance; Entwistle, Roberta; Merton D. Simpson Gallery; Parke-Bernet Galleries; Perls, Klaus Gunther; Perls, Amelia ‘Dolly’; Whitehead, Jack // Awevia, Wilson // Hobley, C. E.; Hobley, Charles William; Hobley, Frances //

Johann Rudolf; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Sarasin, Karl Friedrich ‘Fritz’; Sarasin, Paul; Sarasin-Iselin, Alfred; StaehelinGruner, Alfred; Stevens Auction Rooms; Webster, William Downing // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Hamilton, Bruce Meade // Cook, E. // Christie’s; Graham-Steewart Michael; Perls, Klaus Gunther; Perls, Amelia ‘Dolly’ // Hirshhorn, Joseph Herman // Tarbutt, Percy // Blad, Casper Andreas Valdemar; British Museum, London // Karpinski, Peter; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Swainson, John Henry // Webster, William Downing // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Fagg, William Buller; ParkeBernet Galleries; Pitt-Rivers (Lane Fox), Augustus Henry; Webster, William Downing // Gurlitt, Hildebrand // Vaxelaire, R. // Connah,

Entwistle,

//

Entwistle, Roberta; Parke-Bernet

Perls,

‘Dolly’; Withofs,

// British Colonial Military Campaign on

February 1897; John L. Severance Fund; John Wise Ltd. Galleries; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Rawson, Harry Holdsworth; Wise, John // Carré, Louis; Gurlitt, Hildebrand // Balfour, Henry; British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897 // Rautenstrauch, Theodor ‘Theo’; Stevens Auction Rooms // Tarn, Pauline Mary // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Carré, Louis; Foster’s;

Galleries;

Campaign on

//

Arthur

February

// Diehl,

Burrows, Norman & Hewett,

G. F. //

Sheelagh // British

J. J. Klejman

Klejman, John J.; Museum of Primitive Arts, New York; Pitt-Rivers (Lane Fox), Augustus Henry Ratton, Charles Alfred Marius; Rockefeller, Nelson Aldrich // Meyer, Else; Meyer, Hermann August Heinrich; Webster, William Downing // Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund; Brandt, Alan; British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Pitt-Rivers (Lane Fox), Augustus Henry; Webster, William Downing // Bragaline, Edward A.; British Museum; Burney, Sydney Bernard; John L. Severance Fund; Mitchell-Innes & Nash; Moor, Ralph Denham Rayment; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs // Haas, Georg; Webster, William Downing // Bache (born Odenheimer), Alice K.; John Wise Ltd. Galleries; Wise, John // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Moor, Ralph Denham Rayment // Bernheimer, Lehmann; White (Reswick, Merkel), Katherine Coryton // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Perls, Klaus Gunther; Perls, Amelia ‘Dolly’; Pitt-Rivers (Lane Fox), Augustus Henry // Bardwell, R. F. // Schultz, Christoph // Bey & Co.; Luschan, Felix Ritter von; Schmeltz, Johannes Dietrich Eduard // Clarke, Louis Colville Gray // Edge-Partington, James // Jeffreys, Mervyn David Waldegrave; Wellcome Trust; Wellcome, Henry Solomon // Bevan, Anthony Ashley // Haas, Georg // Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Forbes, Henry Ogg // Ribbert, V. // Berkeley Galleries; British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Ohly, William F. C. ; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Stevens Auction Rooms; Webster, William Downing // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Christie’s // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Entwistle Gallery; Entwistle, Lance; Entwistle, Roberta ; Hall, Donald Joyce; Hall, Adele Coryell; Nelson Gallery Foundation; Pilkington, William; Pilkington, Annie; Sutherland, Herman Robert; Sutherland, Mrs; William Rockhill Nelson Trust // Hôtel Drouot; Musée national des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie (MNAAO), Paris // Meyer, Oskar // Hewett, Kenneth John; Pitt-Rivers (Lane Fox), Augustus Henry; Pitt-Rivers Museum, Farnham; Sainsbury, Lisa; Sainsbury,

// British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Gallwey (Galway),

F.;

//

// Speyer, Arthur

Otto Jansen // Graham-Steewart, Michael; National Lottery Heritage Fund; National Maritime Museum, London // Donald Morris Gallery; George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund; Merton D. Simpson Gallery; Morris, Donald; Simpson, Merton Daniel; William Rockhill Nelson Trust // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Eden, H. K.; Landon, Frederick William Bainbridge // Prince, Richard // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Roth, Felix Norman; Roth, Henry Ling // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Entwistle Gallery; Entwistle, Lance; Entwistle, Roberta; Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund; Price, Vincent // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Cordner, Edward James Kennedy // Konietzko, Julius August // Reichert, F. W. // Connah, Graham Edward; Lafia, Sabu // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Sjögren, Tor Åke Johan; Webster, William Downing // Block, Adolf // Clarke, Stillman E.; J. J. Klejman Gallery; Klejman, John J.; Parke-

W.; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Rawson, Harry Holdsworth // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; J. F. G. Umlauff; Schmeltz, Johannes Dietrich Eduard; Umlauff, Heinrich // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Lehman, Robert Owen ; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Ratton, Charles Alfred Mariuss; Sotheby’s // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897 // Epstein, Jacob; Schwartz, Adolph; Sotheby’s // Ratton, Charles Alfred Mariuss // Epstein, Jacob; Hôtel Drouot; Perls, Klaus Gunther; Perls, Amelia ‘Dolly’ // Wagenmann, Albert // Ogbon, E. A. L. // Billion, Richardson Françoise // Karpinski, Peter; Swainson, John Henry // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Schaumburg, H. // White, R. // Bacri Frères Antiquaires & Museum of Primitive Arts, New York; Ratton, Charles Alfred Mariuss; Rubin, Samuel // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Foster’s; Walker, Herbert Sutherland; Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London // Perls, Klaus Gunther; Perls, Amelia ‘Dolly’ // Dale; Johnston, J. W // Lumley, W. A. // Parke-Bernet Galleries; Sternberg, Josef von // Oldman, Dorothy K.; Oldman, William Ockelford // Heemke, Bernhard Adolf // Bey & Co.; Erdmann, Friedrich // Kaiser, Oscar; Oscar Kaiser & Co. // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Frank, Gustav Adolph // Kunstkammer der Kurfürsten von Brandenburg; Königliche Preußische Kunstkammer // Oldman, William Ockelford; Stevens Auction Rooms // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Davey, Florence E.; Davey, Harold William; Davey, Lydia; Davey, William John; Elder Dempster & Co.; Hewett, Kenneth John; Neville, George William; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Ridyard, Arnold; Sotheby’s; Winizki, Ernst // Lyon, Charles; Lyon, Henry // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Foster’s; Stow, Harry; Wellcome Trust; Wellcome, Henry Solomon // Luboldt, Walter; Webster, William Downing // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Oldman, William Ockelford // Bevan, Anthony Ashley; British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Stevens Auction Rooms; Stevens, John Crace // Knize, Frederick; Musée de l’Homme, Paris // Bradbury, Robert Elwyn; Ezomo, Solomon // De Hoogh Gallery // Galerie Dominion; Hasoldt, von; Morgan, Frederick Cleveland; Stolk, A. P. van // Ahammangiwa; Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, Meyer community of heirs; Meyer, Elisabeth; Meyer, Hans // Grier, Selwyn MacGregor // Handyside, L. C. // Morgan, Daniel; Weeks, George Kearley // Oldman, William Ockelford; Rogers, H. E. // Hiltawski, M. // Nevins, Hugh Nevins // Maizel, Solomon // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Schmeltz, Johannes Dietrich Eduard; Stevens Auction Rooms; Waldeck-Pyrmont, Adelheid Emma Wilhelmina Theresia van; Webster, William Downing; Wilhelmina of the Netherlands // Nevins, Hugh Nevins; Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London // Perls, Klaus Gunther; Perls, Amelia ‘Dolly’; Saad Moddi // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Webster, William Downing // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Hanes, James Gordon; James G. Hanes Memorial Fund; Pitt-Rivers (Lane Fox), Augustus Henry; Webster, William Downing // Bey & Co.; Brinckmann, Justus; Erdmann, Friedrich; Heye, Theodor // Knywel, Theodor; Theodor Knywel, Tierexport // J. F. G. Umlauff; Umlauff, Heinrich // Fuller, Estelle W. // Muensterberger, Werner // Arman, Armand Pierre (born Fernandez); Arman, Corice (born Canton); Hôtel Drouot; Perls, Klaus Gunther; Perls, Amelia ‘Dolly’ // Wellcome Collection; Wellcome Trust; Wellcome, Henry Solomon // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; British Museum; J. J. Klejman Gallery; Klejman, John J.; Schindler Franyo; Schindler, Gustave // Bushnell, A. J. de H.; Wild, Robert Powley // British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Stevens Auction Rooms; Vischer-Iselin, Wilhelm; Webster, William Downing // Geyskens, Willem E. // Bretschneider, Ludwig; Merx, Gerhard; Schmidt, Eduard // Bey & Co.; British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin; Ovonramwẹ, Ọba N’Ogbaisi; Speyer, Arthur Max Heinrich // C. H. Lundgren Antikhandel; Lundgren, Carl Helge // Connah, Graham Edward; Osayame, Edwin // Ford, Josephine Clay ‘Dody’ // Eisenbeiss; Perls, Klaus Gunther; Perls, Amelia ‘Dolly’; Sotheby’s // Museum am Rothenbaum. Kulturen und Künste der Welt (MARKK),

Hamburg; Rautenstrauch, Theodor ‘Theo’ // Lyon, Florence; Lyon, Henry // Allman, Robert B.; British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin February 1897; Komor Gallery; Komor, Mathias; Morgan, Frederick Cleveland // British Colonial Military Campaign

Wembley; British Museum, London; Wellcome Collection; Wellcome Trust; Wellcome, Henry Solomon // Parke-Bernet Galleries; Perls, Klaus Gunther; Perls, Amelia ‘Dolly’; Schwartz, Adolph; Sotheby’; S // Warnholtz, Hugo // Hautelet, Jacques; Rayburn, Harold; Rayburn, Patricia // Baessler, Arthur; Webster, William Downing // British Museum; Glendining & Co; Wellcome Collection; Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London; Wellcome Trust; Wellcome, Henry Solomon // Willett, Frank // Faletti, Barbara; Faletti, Richard J.; William Wright Gallery // J. & M.L. Tregaskis; Tregaskis, James; Tresgaskis (born Bennett), Mary Lee // Speyer, Arthur Johannes Otto Jansen; Speyer, Arthur Max Heinrich // (continued on pg. 38)

Kingdom of Benin (Benin Empire/Edo Empire): one of many indigenous peoples within

Nigeria. The Bini (People of Benin/Edo) are the past, present, and future members of the Kingdom of Benin. Benin Bronzes:

Al Thani Collection

Hull Museum of Art

Musée national Picasso Paris Bristol

Archives, JFK Presidential Library * Newark Museum of Art Northampton Museums and

HMA, Haffenreffer Museum of

Krannert Art Museum | University of Illinois at

Bernisches Historisches

Museu Nacional de Etnologia Museum of Anthropology at UBC

Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie

National Gallery of Art

Niedersächsische

Oldenburg *

Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology *

Art Museum

VMFA, Virginia Museum of

Musée de la musique, Cité de la Musique * Minneapolis Institute of Arts

* Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz Institut für Ethnologie und Ethnologische Sammlung der Universität Göttingen Musée de la musique, Cité de la Musique - Philharmonie de Paris

Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley

Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Nationalmuseet, National Museum of Denmark

North Carolina Museum of Art

Städtisches Museum Braunschweig

Stanley Museum of Art, University of Iowa

Royal Armouries

RAMM, Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery

Royal Museums Greenwich

SLAM, Saint Louis Art Museum

Dallas Museum of Art

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (formerly Stovall Museum)

AfricaMuseum, Royal Museum for Central Africa

MIM Musical Instrument Museum

Princeton University Art Museum

Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim

South Australian Museum

Musée des beaux-arts

Royal Ontario Museum

Museum Ulm

Detroit Institute of Arts

Art Institute of Chicago

Buffalo Museum of Sciences

Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

Historisches und Völkerkundemuseum St. Gallen

New Orleans Museum of Art

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

National Gallery of Australia

Cleveland Museum of Art

Research and Cultural Collections, University of Birmingham

Art Institute of Chicago

Völkerkundesammlung

The Israel Museum

Ipswich Museum

Städtische Museen Freiburg

Seattle Art Museum

Powell-Cotton Museum

Museum Rietberg Zürich

Science Museum

Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich

Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust

Brooklyn Museum

Manchester Museum

UiO, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo

Museum Fünf Kontinente, Staatliche Museen in Bayern

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera)

Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Museum Weltkulturen

Manchester Museum

musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University

National Museum of Ireland

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

American Museum of Natural History

Världskultur Museerna, National Museums of World Culture

National Museum of Ireland

Weltkulturen Museum Frankfurt am Main

Världskultur Museerna, National Museums of World Culture

Fowler Museum at UCLA

Weltkulturen Museum

Linden-Museum Stuttgart, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde

National Museums Liverpool, World Museum

Fowler Museum at UCLA

Horniman Museum and Gardens

National Museums Liverpool, World Museum

Horniman Museum and Gardens

National Museum, Lagos

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum

National Museum, Lagos

Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen and Wereldmuseum

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum

Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen and Wereldmuseum

Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen and Wereldmuseum

Metropolitan Museum of Art

MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt

MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt

MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum)

MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum)

Weltmuseum Wien

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum)

Weltmuseum Wien

Weltmuseum Wien

Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen und Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen und Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen und Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden