Page 108 - Works of Art from Benin-Nigeria- West Africa

90 Antique Works of Art from Benin.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLV.

346. bronze bell, ornamented with mud-fish and a human
Fig. Quadrangular
head in relief. It is reticulated on all sides and could have emitted no
sound.
347. bronze bell, ornamented on one side by a degenerate
Fig. Quadrangular
human face in relief. The ornamentation tastefully designed.
348. Bronze cock, somewhat similar to Fig. 301, Plate XL.
Fig.
349. Brass armlet, made from one of thin metal, joined by copper
Fig. piece
rivets. Ornamented by three naked human figures in relief, and bands of
interlaced
rings.
350 and 351. Bronze trumpet, slightly curved, the mouth-hole on the convex
Figs.
side, similar in form to the ivory trumpets, Figs. 178, 192 and 193. Pro-
jecting blades, like celts, on the large end, as in the sistrum in Figs. 232
to 234, Plate XXXI. A somewhat similar instrument is figured by
Mr. Ling Roth in the "Halifax Naturalist," June, 1898, p. 32. Above
these blades is a human head in relief, surmounted by a circular ring held
in the mouth of a crocodile, head downwards. Other parts are ornamented
by sinuous snakes in relief. It appears to have been used both as trumpet
and axe.
352 and 353. Bronze intended to be held in the middle.
Figs. staff, probably
Ornamented at both ends with human back to back. The stem
figures
ornamented with as in 208 and 209, Plate XXIX.
loops Figs.
Figs. 354 and 355. Bronze staff, 4 feet 10^ inches in length ; ornamented at top
with the of a bird with a small ball in its mouth, and
figure apparently
surmounting a leopard. Around it are ten leaf-shaped flanges ornamented
with sinuous birds and crocodiles in their mouths. Below
serpents, holding
this is a human with
figure standing very large hands, apparently clasped.
and thumbs to the size of the
projecting upwards, out of all proportion
body ; on the shoulders of this figure are two sinuous snakes. Below this
are a The central is nude and
figures representing monkey and a bull. figure