A FINE BENIN BRONZE HEAD OF AN OBA, UHUNMWUN-ELAO, EDO PEOPLES, 17TH- 18TH CENTURY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Published:
1. Stefan Eisenhofer and Heidelinde Dimt, Kulte, Künstler, Könige in Afrika. Tradition und Moderne in Südnigeria, 1997, p. 138, fig. II/1.13.
2. Kristian Fenzl and Armand Duchâteau, Afrika-Kopfskulpturen, 1998, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, p. 88-89.

Exhibited:
1. Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Kulte, Künstler, Könige in Afrika. Tradition und Moderne in Südnigeria, Linz, 23 October 1997 – 22 March 1998.
2. Kunsthalle Krems, Afrika-Kopfskulpturen, Krems an der Donau, 26 July 1998 – 18 October 1998.
3. Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 9 December 1999-3 July 2003, on loan, inventory number 106.1999.

Scientific Analysis Report: A metal analysis, dating from 12 January 1997, dates the metal alloy to the 17^th century, consistent with the dating above. A copy of the report accompanies this lot.

Alloy Composition Report: A metal analysis was carried out by Aston Metallurgical Services Co., Inc., Chicago, dated 20 January 1999, using ASTM test methods. The reading indicates an alloy composition of 84.31% copper, 8.08% zinc, 0.95 % lead, 3.07% tin, 0.51% iron, 0.13% nickel, 0.53% aluminum, 0.07% manganese, and <0.05% silicon. A copy of the report accompanies this lot.

External Expert authentication: Frank Willet has authenticated this lot and dates it to the 18th century, identifying its iconographic and stylistic characteristics to the Middle period, Dark, Type IV, modeled in typical manner of heads dating from 1750 to 1816. A copy of Frank Willet’s expertise, dated 7 June 2001, accompanies this lot.

Frank Willet (1925-2006) was a pioneering scholar of African art and archaeology and served as the first Director of the Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery from 1976 to 1990. Educated at University College, Oxford, he earned a diploma in Anthropology. After WW2, he became Keeper of the Department of Ethnology and General Archaeology at the Manchester Museum, where his growing expertise led him to undertake field trips to Nigeria. His deepening knowledge resulted in his appointment as Honorary Surveyor of Antiquities for the Nigerian Federal Government in 1956, followed by his role as Government Archaeologist and head of the Ife Museum in Southern Nigeria. In 1963, Willett returned to Oxford as a research fellow at Nuffield College, and three years later he joined Northwestern University as Professor of Art History, African Studies, and Interdisciplinary Studies. His seminal publications, Ife in the History of West African Sculpture and African Art: An Introduction (1971), became foundational texts in the field. He was awarded a CBE in 1985 and later served as Vice-Chair of the Scottish Museums Council. Even after retiring in 1990, Willett continued to shape the discipline as Curator of the Royal Society (1992–1997) and through ongoing publications, culminating in The Art of Ife: A Descriptive Catalogue and Database (2004), an award-winning study documenting all known Ife objects. His research was conducted in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, the British Museum, and other major institutions, and his mentorship helped train a new generation of Africanists.

Nigeria, Altars of the Oba. The latticework beaded headdress with four attached clusters of four beads, four diagonal beads to the front and two more to the back, another two suspended at the center of the forehead, beaded tassels cast in relief before and behind the ears and joining the base, three keloids in relief above each hatched brow, incised pupils to the large eyes, a high cylinder of bead necklaces enveloping the neck and chin, all raised on a flanged base. The top of the head pierced with a large aperture for mounting the tusk.

Provenance: The family collection of Ojoma of Owo, Oba Ayen, Ondo States, Nigeria, before 1983. Mr. Alli Garko, acquired from the above in Lome, Togo, on 7 March 1983. The purchase price was 4,800 Nigerian Naira, equivalent to circa 7,000 USD at the time, which is equivalent to circa USD 22,000 today after US inflation. The collection of James Taylor, Manchester, circa 1985-1996, by repute acquired from the above. A private collection in Austria, by repute acquired from the above. Collection of Gerhard Merzeder (b. 1963), internationally published and acclaimed fashion and portrait photographer, Vienna, Austria, assembled since the 1980s. A copy of a certificate of sale, written and signed by Ojoma of Owo, Oba Ayeni, and addressed to Mr. Alli Garko, certified by the community of Lome on 16 September 1983, accompanies this lot.
Note: Ojomo of Owo / Oba Ayen is best understood as a self-adopted honorific, combining the royal title of Owo (Ojomo) with Ayen, the name of a legendary early ancestor-king, to suggest lineage or status rather than an actual reigning office. It therefore rather reflects ancestral identification and social prestige, not a historically attested ruler of the 20th century.
The sale of the bronze took place in Lomé, Togo, approximately 220–250 km from Owo, Nigeria, where the seller resided. In the 1970s–80s, Lomé commonly served as a regional hub for the West African art trade, where transactions were formalized and export documentation completed.
Condition: Very good condition with wear and casting irregularities. Few scratches, minor nicks, small losses, few dings, and expected surface alteration. The bronze with a naturally grown, dark patina.

Weight: 3,322 g
Dimensions: Height 26 cm

This head of an Ọba wears layered necklaces of royal coral beads. Tubular beads adorn both the netted cap and slender braids alongside his temples. While representing an individual, his facial features and calm expression are idealized. The thickly cast head once supported a tusk. Immune to corrosion, brass symbolizes royal permanence. A personal religious object, this head most likely sat on an ancestral altar in the Ọba’s palace.

The leaders of the kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria trace their origins to a ruling dynasty that began in the fourteenth century. The title of "oba," or king, is passed on to the firstborn son of each successive king of Benin at the time of his death. The first obligation of each new king during this transfer of rule is to commemorate his father with a portrait cast in bronze and placed on an altar at the palace. The altar constitutes an important site of palace ritual and is understood to be a means of incorporating the ongoing influence of past kings in the affairs of their descendants. In honoring the royal ancestors, the cast-brass heads refer to the special role of the head in directing not only the body but also a person's success in life. Taken further, the welfare of the entire kingdom depends upon the king's head, which is itself the object of worship. The placement of brass heads on the ancestral altar is a vivid reminder of the oba's role in successfully guiding the kingdom throughout his reign.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related head of an oba, Nigeria, Court of Benin, dated to the 19^th century, 33.7 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 1977.187.37. Compare a closely related, earlier, ancestral commemorative head, uhunmwun-elao, dated c. mid-1500s or early 1600s, 29.9 cm high, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, accession number 1938.6.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Paris, 11 June 2008, lot 130
Price: EUR 528,750 or approx. EUR 687,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Exceptional commemorative head of a king, Edo, Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria, 18th century, Nigeria
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, headdress, necklace, and facial features. Note the size (31.5 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Paris, 12 December 2017, lot 67
Price: EUR 1,869,000 or approx. EUR 2,237,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Head, Edo, Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria, 17th-18th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, headdress, necklace, and facial features. Note the size (31.5 cm).