About the Artwork
This regal head commemorates the important central role in Benin politics fulfilled by the Queen Mother, or lye oba, who held the rank of a high chief. Her son, the king, consulted with her about all questions of leadership and policy making during his reign. Ironically, all direct contact between the king and his mother was forbidden; they communicated from separate palaces through messengers. This bronze head, which shows the queen's distinctive "chicken's beak" hairdo, would have adorned the ancestral shrine established in her honor after her death.
Royal Portrait
between 1750 and 1850
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African
Benin
Bronze, cast
Sight: 21 × 10 1/2 × 10 1/2 inches (53.3 × 26.7 × 26.7 cm)
Metalwork
African Art
City of Detroit Purchase
26.180
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
Fritz Gurlitt (Germany);1926-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Masterpieces of Art in Memory of W.R. Valentiner. Exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art. Raleigh, April 6 - May 17, 1959, no. 217.
World Primitive Art. Exh. cat., The University Art Gallery, Oakland University. Rochester Michigan, November 4 - 29, 1965.
Detroit Collects African Art. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, April 21-May 29, 1977, no. 86 (ill.).
Kan, Micheal, African Masterworks In The Detroit Institute of Arts. Washington, 1995, no. 33.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Benin, African, Royal Portrait, between 1750 and 1850, bronze, cast. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase, 26.180.
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