Page 55 - Works of Art from Benin-Nigeria- West Africa

Antique Works of Art from Benin. 47

140. Armlet of brass, pierced work, ornamented with bands of
Fig. looped straps,
similar to Fig. 139, and two bands of concentric semicircles alternating with
Maltese crosses. Around the centre is a baud of broken
guilloche pattern,
forming a transitional link between the guilloche, and a peculiar floral
ornament common to Benin art. The of screw-
representation European
heads forms of the ornamentation, and raised alternate with the
part eyelets
^screw-head ornaments.
141. Armlet of ornamented with horizontal human heads of brass. The
Fig. copper,
head-dresses are ornamented with fish-scale and the hair is combed
pattern,
out
straight. The heads alternate with double-coiled mud-fish, resembling
Fig. 276, Plate XXXVI. It is not quite easy to understand how this work
was done. Both the and the brass to have been formed
copper appear by
casting.