Page 73 - Works of Art from Benin-Nigeria- West Africa

Antique Works of Art from Benin.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXXI.

230. shells of bronze gilt, forming part of a necklace.
Fig. Eight
231. Ten which formed part of the King of Benin's necklace. The
Fig. gold shells,
" The of the
shells appear to be cerithidfe." They are cast hollow. weight
ten is 8f ounces.
232 to 234. Bronze statuette, representing a figure standing ; with broad leaf-
Figs.
shaped sword, similar to Figs. 326, 327, 328 and 329, having a twisted ring
pommel in right hand, and a sistrum in left hand. Coral choker, badge of
rank. Three tribal marks over each eye. Agate head-dress, similar ,to
121, Plate XXI, and curved agate pendants on each side. A large
Fig.
twisted rises out of the head-dress, which looks as [if intended to
ring
enclose some thick band of cloth or other substance to suspend it. The
crown of the head-dress terminates in a thick cylindrical spike with a flat

like Fig. Ill, Plate XIX, Fig. 155, Plate XXV, and Figs. 167 and 168,
top,
Plate XXVI. The sistrum is ornamented with a full-length human figure,
a staff in hand and the so-called or axe in left hand.
holding right key
Beneath the bowl of the sistrum are three projecting cruciform bars, and
the upper edge of the bowl is ornamented on each side with two heads very
"
rudely cast. Dr. Felix Roth, in the Halifax Naturalist," June, 1898,
of these as used for victims
p. 33, speaks projecting prongs being killing
for sacrificial purposes, but the fact of their being sistri is shown in connec-
tion with Fig. 181, Plate XXVII. Sinuous serpents cover the shaft and
bowl of the sistrum. The leaf-shaped sword is ornamented, front and back,
with small imitations of itself. The has bands, probably of coral,
figure
on the breast. The skirt is ornamented with conventionalized
crossing
human heads with hair and rows of Ankles have
long guilloche pattern.
coral anklets. The skirt is bound up in the usual manner in a band behind
the left shoulder. There is a band of small bells round the and a
hips,
human head and a bunch of bells on the left side. This was obtained
figure
from the Liverpool Museum, in the report of which it is elaborately
"
described and| figured with three others like it. Bulletin of the Liverpool
59. There is a like this in the British
Museums," Vol. I, No. 2, p. figure
Museum. It is of considerable cast solid.
weight, being