Height: 62.000 cm
Width:
33.000 cm
Depth: 26.000
cm
AOA 1949.Af46.156
Bronze figure of a hornblower
Edo peoples, late 16th - early 17th century
AD
From Benin, Nigeria
This figure depicts one of the retinue of the Oba (king) of Benin sounding a side-blown horn. It is typical of those objects which might have been found on altars in the Benin royal court of the late sixteenth / early seventeenth century which were dedicated to the Oba's ancestors. Early European accounts, such as Olfert Dapper's Description de l'Afrique (Amsterdam, 1686), illustrate musicians of this type.
P. Girshick Ben-Amos, The art of Benin (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
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