Artist: Unattributed Title: ‘Hip Ornament: Leopard Head’ Date: between 1600-1900 century Location: Court of Benin, Nigeria Materials and Technique: Lost wax casting; brass, iron Dimensions: 18.6 × 12.1 × 5.7 cm (7 5/16 × 4 3/4 × 2 1/4 in) Image Permissions: Public Domain. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991.17.36
This lost wax cast brass hip ornament was made by the Edo people of the Court of Benin in present day Nigeria. It was an important part of the ceremonial costumes that would have been worn by the Oba, the king, and other participants in palace rituals. This hip ornament would have been worn on the left side of the waist to cover the closure of the wrapped skirts. Only the Oba and war chiefs were allowed to wear leopard ornaments, because the leopard held symbolism of fierce leadership in the Edo culture. They were seen as protective badges of honor and symbolized the power over life and death that the Oba had given to the chiefs.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art dates this piece somewhere between the 16th and 19th centuries. This piece is difficult to date, because hip ornaments like this were made over a long period of time and vary in style and content. This piece was taken from the Edo people by the British military in 1897, when they were on a punitive expedition and looted thousands of pieces of art from the Court of Benin. This expedition was in response to the Edo people rebelling and killing British officers, but it was also an economic expedition, because they knew selling these stolen objects could offset the costs of the expedition.
The piece was sold in a series of auctions until it made its way to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls of New York gifted this piece to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1991 where it is now part of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing for non-European arts. The museum is currently “re-envisioning” this collection for a “new generation of visitors” guided by an examination of the past to create a conceptual and physical overhaul of the collection.
Sources:
Amos, Ben, Paula Girshick. "Benin, Kingdom of." Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press. www-oxfordartonline-com.cordproxy.mnpals.net/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000007886.
Bradbury, R. E, and International African Institute. The Benin Kingdom and the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western Nigeria. International African Institute, 1970.
Ezra, Kate. Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.“Hip Ornament: Leopard Head.” Metmuseum.org, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/316507.
Author Bio: Coral Johnson is a senior at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. Coral is a preprofessional studio art major with a minor in theatre art. She plans on pursuing her MFA in studio art with a focus on sculpture.