H x W x D: 163.8 x 43 x 29.5 cm (64 1/2 x 16 15/16 x 11 5/8 in.)
Type:
Figure
Geography:
Brass, Niger River Delta, Nigeria
Date:
Mid-19th century
Label Text:
This figure is one of a group of male and female figures from the court of King Ockiya of Brass. Brass was a port in the Niger Delta and a center for the British trade in palm oil. Its name comes from the quantities of brass that were brought in as an important trade currency and commodity. Ockiya was the head of a trading house in the mid-19th century who became so weallthy that he used the title "king." So, he decided to imitate the court of the oba of Benin by commissioning figures in a more naturalistic style than traditionally used by his Ijo peoples. The style of the resulting figures may have been influenced by European ship figureheads. This figure, identified as Kagenga or Kakenga, was described as an ancestor figure. Photographs taken in 1877-1878, show the figure wearing a plant fiber skirt and a number of collar-form amulet necklaces and pendants.
In 1877 to mark the royal family's conversion to Christianity and to quell unrest by militant converts, this figure was given to Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther (the first African bishop of the Church Missionary Society) who removed it to England rather than destroying it.
Description:
Wood standing male figure on rectangular base, with proper left hand curled under the chin, and proper right hand on its chest. Body is dark, while head is lighter, with large, projecting ears and black hair. Genital area is lighter, where figure once had a cache-sexe, as evidenced in archival photograph. Old metal strap repair on base crack.
Provenance:
King Ockiya of Brass, Niger Delta, -- to 1877
Bishop Samuel Crowther, Church Missionary Society, 1877
James T. Hooper, England, -- to 1964
Bernard J. Reis, New York, -- to 1965
Exhibition History:
An Exhibit of Sculpture. Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, June 1-15, 1958
Published References:
Blier, Suzanne Preston. 1988. "Melville J. Herskovits and the Arts of Ancient Dahomey." Res, 16, p. 136, no. 12. (engraving from D'Albeca 1895)
D'Albeca, Alexandre L. 1894. "Au Dahomey." Tour du Monde, pt. 2, p. 113. (engraving of "fetiche," identified as by Bazin, after a photograph)
D'Albeca, Alexandre L. 1895. La France au Dahomey. Paris: Hachette, p. 17. (engraving)
Echeruo, Michael J.C. 1977. Victorian Lagos: Aspects of Nineteenth Century Lagos Life. London: Macmillan. (field photo with Crowther)
Hooper, J.T. and C.A. Burland. 1953. The Art of Primitive Peoples. London: Fountain Press, no. 62.
McKenzie, P.R. 1976. Inter-religious Encounters in West Africa. Leicester: Studies in Religion, no. 2 (field photo with Crowther, credit CMS, London), no. 4 (museum).
Robbins, Warren. 1966. African Art in American Collections. New York: Praeger, p. 156, no. 191.
Sotheby's. 1964. Catalogue of African, Oceanic, Pre-Columbian and Indian Art. Auction catalogue (May 20). London, p. 24, no. 74 (not illustrated).
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