This is the rating and price for Benin Brass Bronze Ram Figure, Unknown

Description : Additional Information:A super Benin brass cast ram !  ,In the court of Benin  ,rams were  , the animals used by the Obas for sacrifices to their ancestors.  ,Benin art is essentially a royal art, made to glorify the great king Oba, who is considered to have divine ancestry.  ,As  ,noted in the catalogue edited by Anitra Nettleton, Nigeria Art. The Meneghelli Collection (p. 71),  ,such a cast ram figure is an aquamanile which was filled through a hole in the head. The water was poured out through the nostrils to wash the handsof the Obas before he made sacrifices to his ancestors. This tradition  ,has been in existence since the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Most castings are brass (an alloy of copper and zinc with traces of other minerals.) although some are made made of bronze (an alloy of copper and tin with traces of other metals.) Without doing an analysis on each piece, it is not possible to know the content. Benin castings were all made by the lost wax technique, which produces one-of-a-kind pieces.A core of clay is covered with wax, which is then carved into the exact shape which the artist wants the finished piece to have. Additional wax pipelines are made for the wax to exit and gases to escape. The wax is then covered with a layer of fine clay, and with succeeding layers, each coarser than the previous one. The mold is then heated, which melts the wax and fires the clay into a solid mold. The empty space is filled by pouring in molten brass. After the piece cools, the clay mold is broken, revealing the metal piece ready for polishing.See a similar example in Anitra Nettleton (Ed), Nigeria Art. The Meneghelli Collection, 2002, p. 71 fig. B30Recommended Reading: ,Augustus Pitt-Rivers, Antique Works of Art From Benin, 1900 ,Hagen, Dr. K., Altertumer von Benin, Jahrbuch der Hamburgischesen  ,Wissenschaftlichen Anstalten, V. XVII, 1900.H. Ling Roth, Great Benin, Its Customs, Art and Horrors, 1903 (1968).Dark, P. J. C., W. &, B. Foreman, Benin Art,1960.Dark, P. J.C., An Introduction to Benin Art and Technology, 1973.Ben-Amos, P. The Art of Benin, 1980.Freyer, B., Royal Benin Art, 1987.Ezra, K., Royal Art of Benin, The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992.Duchateau, A., Benin, Royal Art of Africa from the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Vienna, 1994.Anitra Nettleton (Ed), Nigeria Art. The Meneghelli Collection, 2002. ,I have examined this piece and agree with the description. Niangi Batulukisi, PhD.

Sale data is available to Premium subscribers. View plans

Details