Plaque: Chief with warrior
ca. 1600-1650
Filled with natural observation, plaques from Benin allow us to enter into a kingdom at its height over 400 years ago. In this example, we're introduced to a chief who is wielding a sword and wearing a leopard hip mask, as well as a leopard's tooth necklace. In Benin cosmology, the leopard is admired for its ability to match stealth with restraint and moderation. Such a mask is worn by a chief who served under the Oba (king).
Brass
17 5/16 x 15 1/2 x 2 13/16 in. (43.9 x 39.4 x 7.2 cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
58.134
Provenance: Taken from the royal palace of Benin City during the Benin Expedition of 1897, sent by Sir Ralph Moor, Consul-General of the Niger Coast Protectorate, to Charles H. Read, Keeper of the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography, British Museum; sold to Lieutenant-General Pitt-Rivers, ca. July 27, 1898; Pitt Rivers Museum, Farnham, Dorset, England; dispersed and sold to [Mathias Komor, New York], by 1958; purchased by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1958
