This Benin Ivory Mask is a miniature sculptural portrait of the Queen Mother Idia of the 16th century Benin Empire. The sculpture takes the form of a traditional African mask and features a beaded headdress and choker at her neck.
The forehead shows ritual scarification highlighted by iron inlay on the forehead. The top of the mask is decorated with heads representing the Portuguese, symbolizing Benin’s alliance with the Europeans.
This type of hip-mask was worn by the King, on the hip, during important ceremonies.
The mask represents Queen Mother Idia, who was the mother of Esigie, a renowned ruler of the Edo people who ruled in the early 1500s. The Queen Mother played a very significant role in the reign of her son.
She was a great warrior who mobilized an army for her son Esigie, who defeated his rival and half-brother to became the 16th king of Benin. His mother, Idia, received much of the credit for these victories for her political counsel.
She had significant influence, which led to success on the battlefield.
Esigie came to power as Portuguese explorers first made contact with the empire.
Trade and diplomacy with Europe brought Esigie, and his kingdom prosperity and influence as his empire traded pepper, ivory, local textiles, and slaves for brass, cloth, coral beads, and mercenaries for protection.
The Portuguese continued to appear in Benin art long after they had disappeared from Benin itself.
The Kingdom of Benin was a pre-colonial kingdom in what is now southern Nigeria, and its capital was Edo, which is now known as Benin City.
The Benin Kingdom was “one of the oldest and most highly developed states of West Africa, dating to the eleventh century CE until the British Empire annexed it in 1897.
The British Benin Expedition of 1897 was a punitive expedition by British forces that captured, burned, and looted Benin City, with much of the country’s art taken as booty.
About 40% of the art was accessioned into the British Museum. Some works were given to individual members of the Military as spoils of war. The remainder was sold to pay for the cost of the British expedition.
The dispersal of the Benin art to museums around the world was a catalyst for the slow European reassessment of the value of West African art. The Benin art was copied, and the style integrated into the art of many Western artists.
Benin Ivory Mask
- Title: Benin Ivory Mask
- Date: Early 16th century
- Culture: 16th century Benin Empire
- Medium: Ivory, iron & bronze inlay
- Dimensions: H: 24.5 cm; W: 12.5 cm; D: 6 cm
- Museum: The British Museum
Kingdom of Benin
- Dates 1180–1897
- Capital: Edo (now Benin City)
- Languages: Edo
- Geography: Part of modern-day Nigeria
‘A Physical Essay in Power’: The Striking Story of an Ivory Mask from Benin
Western reactions to Benin bronzes | Civilisations
A Tour of the British Museum
Ancient Egypt and Sudan Collection
- The Rosetta Stone
- The Battlefield Palette 3100 BC
- Quartzite Head of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III
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Middle East Collection
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Ancient Greece and Rome Collection
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- Aegina Treasure
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Britain, Europe, and Prehistory Collection
- Ain Sakhri Lovers
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Asian Collection
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Africa, Oceania and the Americas Collection
- Double-Headed Serpent
- Hoa Hakananai’a / Moai from Easter Island
- Hawaiian Feathered Helmet
- Bronze Head from Ife
- Benin Ivory Mask
The Prints and Drawings Collection
- “Studies of a Reclining Male Nude” by Michelangelo
- Newport Castle by J. M. W. Turner
- “Hampstead Heath” by John Constable
- “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai
- “Rainstorm Beneath the Summit” by Katsushika Hokusai
Information on The British Museum
- Masterpieces of the British Museum
Benin Ivory Mask
~~~
“He who knows kindness and benevolence,
let him so be kind and helpful.”
– Edo Proverbs
~~~
Photo Credit: British Museum [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons
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