found
at: http://www.christies.com
April 2003
18th/19th century
Standing with the arms held forward, the right hand holding a ceremonial sword, eben,
the left with the palm facing downwards, wearing a beaded headdress with pierced
side flanges and feather to one side, cylindrical projection at the center,
beaded lattice tunic, beaded crossed baldrics, the kilt, belukus,
decorated with a horizontal band with Portuguese heads, leopards, sword and
other motifs cast in relief within a border of interlaced ornament, one end
drawn up above the left elbow, tall beaded collar, many cast anklets with
tassels, large twisted loop of cruciform section to the top of the head,
cylindrical support between the legs, dark patina with traces of laterite,
painted number 1033, on Inagaki base
21in. (53.5cm.) high
Provenance: Knoedler
Galleries, New York, 1940
Mrs. George W. Crawford
Literature: Masterpieces
of African Art, Brooklyn, 1954, no.60 (illustrated)
Exhibited: The
Brooklyn Museum, 1954, no.60
Lot Notes:The
imposing figure in elaborate regalia must be that of an oba rather than a chief
because the form of the beaded crown with the lateral flanges curving forward is
traditionally held to have been introduced by Oba Osamwede (c.1815-c.1850) and
used for the memorial heads on his altars. With the introduction of additional
ornament to the oba's costume he may well have had such figures cast to display
on the altars of his father, Oba Ogbebo. Philip Dark lists eight figures with
the large loop; viz. the British Museum, cat. 97-550 (P.J.C. Dark, Benin Art,
1960, pl.61-62); Lt.Gen. A.H.L.F. Pitt-Rivers, Antique Works of Art from
Benin, 1900, pl.31, figs.232-234; two in Liverpool (Bulletin of the
Liverpool Museum, p.62 and 63); Chicago (P. Ben Amos, The Art of Benin,
London, 1995, p.92.fig.73); the Smithsonian Institution on loan from the
Hirshhorn Museum, with the loop missing, (Freyer, Royal Benin Art,
Washington, D.C., 1987, pl.4); and the Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth, (P. Ben
Amos, Benin Art, 1980, p.66, fig.70). Of these only that in the British
Museum has the hand outstretched as in the present figure. In the others the oba
holds an elaborate staff with cast figures in the form of the idiophones of the
sixteenth century.
In a personal communication Dr. Barbara Blackmun has informed us that "the
ceremony represented is fairly certain. In most examples, the figure holds a
unique staff that is used during Emobo. In this case, and in the British
Museum figure, the left hand is outstretched, palm down. This is probably
another reference to the same ceremony.
"From time to time during Emobo, the Oba makes a repeated motion,
with both hands held palms down. It looks as though he is patting the air, or
pushing it away from himself. Since Emobo is the ritual that sends away
all the spiritual forces that have been invited into Benin's palace during the
long period of Igue, this seems to be a gesture of dismissal."
The disproportionate size of the loop above the figures has not been explained
satisfactorily. Paula Ben Amos (op. cit., 1980, p.66) was informed by Chief
Ihama that the loop above enabled the easy removal of the figure for polishing
but the cruciform cross section would make it uncomfortable to hold and a handle
would have been a more practical solution. The function may have had a dual
purpose, both to enable the figure to be carried and to protect the cylindrical
projection at the top of the head which probably had spiritual connotations.
read also Tim's Lost treasures and
the tribal-art sales
highlights
Legendary lost tribal
masterpieces
by Tim Teuten
Found at: http://www.christies.com/promos/apr03/1278/specialist.asp?article=1
Sale 1278, Lot 95 April 3, 2003 Christies
New-York
A Superb Songye Power Figure
Nkishi
Estimate: $80,000-120,000
There would be no exaggeration in describing the Russell B. Aitken collection
of African art as a collection of lost masterpieces. None has been seen by the
public since 1954 when seventeen objects were loaned to the major exhibition,
'Masterpieces of African Art,' at the Brooklyn Museum. By that time the fine
Yoruba horseman had been recognized as a unique sculpture by an unknown master
of the 19th century, had been exhibited in the seminal 1935 exhibition, 'African
Negro Art,' at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, had appeared in no fewer
than eight publications and has been photographed by the renowned photographer,
Walker Evans.
Russell Aitkens and his first wife, Annie Laurie Crawford, who were married in
1957, had both formed independent collections, largely in the late 1930s. They
bought from major New York galleries of the period such as Knoedler, Jacques
Seligmann and Sachs, and both took advantage of the dispersal of one of the
finest African art collections of the time, that of Frank Crowninshield, the
sophisticated magazine editor.
Aitken and Annie Laurie Crawford between them acquired no fewer than 23 objects
either directly from Crowninshield or through major New York dealers. The superb
quality of Crowninshield's collection was due in no small measure to the
assistance he had been given by the painter, John Graham. Graham visited Paris
in search of major acquisitions and knew all the leading dealers in that city.
He was able to take his pick of the array of objects from the French colonies
available at that time. He chose the superb Fang figure, which retains its thick
black oily surface from the libations of palm oil.
From the most successful and celebrated of all dealers, Charles Ratton, he chose
a fine and rare Baule mask from the ivory Coast, representing the moon. As is
typical with major objects acquired in Paris in the 1930s, several were mounted
by the Japanese-born Inagaki, the most famous of all stand makers for African
and Oceanic art.
The Aitken collection contains three major bronzes from the kingdom of Benin
which would have all left Africa at the time of the British punitive expedition
of 1897.
An important plaque depicting an oba (monarch)—perhaps the great
warrior king Esigie—would have once adorned the palace of Benin City. At the
end of the 19th century it was in the collection of the well known English
collector, Augustus Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, who created a museum in Farnham,
Dorset, having generously endowed the University Museum in Oxford. He was so
impressed with the plaque that he chose to publish three different views of it
in his book on Benin artefacts, Antique Works of Art from the City of Benin,
published in 1900.
A rare standing bronze figure was acquired by Annie Laurie Crawford from
Knoedler in New York in 1940; and a fine Benin bronze head for the altars of the
oba was acquired from the widow of Dr Hans Meyer, whose collection formed
the core of the Museum für Völkerkunde in Leipzig.
Aitken was a successful ceramic artist and journalist (he wrote more than 300
articles for natural history, outdoor and hunting and fishing magazines, and
even published a runaway best seller Great Game Animals of the World,
1969, Macmillan), as well as being an internationally renowned shot and a keen
hunter. He made many trips to Africa and spoke several native languages. Many
objects such as the Masai and Kikuyu sheilds were acquired by him on his
numerous safari trips.
Tim Teuten is Head of the Tribal Art Department, Christie's Paris
read also a Benin Oba description below and Christies
New-York sales highlights and read
also: Fang and Kota by Louis Perrois
