pendant
- Museum number
- Af1956,15.1
- Description
-
Human head pendant; lost-wax casting, probably leaded bronze. Facial scarification on cheeks, temples and forehead, elaborate conical hairstyle with small loops. Lips are wide and prominent. Large loop for suspension behind hairstyle; four smaller double loops on each side of face from below ear to above chin.
- Production date
- 9thC-10thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 7.60 centimetres
-
Weight: 102 grammes
-
Width: 4.10 centimetres
-
Depth: 5.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- This casting has a loop at the back suggesting that it was worn suspended around the neck or attached to a dignitary’s regalia. Coloured beads would originally have been attached to the loops of the complex hairstyle. Facial scarification similar to that of the casting is particularly associated with the ichi title taken by Igbo men of status.
- Location
- On display (G25/dc4)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1991 Feb-Apr, Norwich, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Man and Metal in Ancient Nigeria
1996 May-Sep, New York, Guggenheim Museum, Africa: The Art of a Continent
- Condition
- Good. Two casting sprues visible on either side of core extraction hole in back.
- Acquisition date
- 1956
- Acquisition notes
- F. W. Carpenter was District Commissioner for Awka region, Nigeria. He visited the site of Igbo-Ukwu in 1939 and collected most of the objects that had been distributed to Isaiah Anozie's neighbours in 1938. Some of these (Af1956,15.1-5) were presented by Carpenter to the British Museum in 1956, others from the same collection were initially offered for sale at Sotheby's (2 December 1957) but were subsequently withdrawn. Part of the latter collection was later acquired by the Museum (Af1979,18.1-110). The remainder of this collection was acquired by the Department of Antiquities, Nigeria in 1958 and today forms part of the National Museum Lagos collections (LG58.6.1-14).
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1956,15.1
