I'm loving the picture, PhysicMHD.

I guess it's now up to me to make a Yoruba arts thread. I'm inspired.

Who knows what I might lean. . . After the finals ofcourse.

ezeagu:

A court official is just randomly holding up a square piece of leopard skin. Maybe the people who know all these Benin ceremonies, rites and rituals should be asked back at Benin.

lol, that's exactly what I thought.

But another book says that it could be leopard skin or it could be an official designated to trade with Europeans coming to the king with a list (presumably in Portuguese) with items or amounts, etc., which I don't believe because there are at least two of these messenger figures that are women (maybe from the Queen mother's court at Uselu?), yet the Oba controlled all official trade and his agents were only male. The female messengers could not be traders and are unlikely to have been messengers for trade, so that tablet could be a message from the Queen mother's court to the Oba's court. According to European accounts, the Iyoba (Queen mother) and the Oba never saw each other after the Oba's coronation, so interpreting these figures as messengers between courts or between enogies and the Oba seems far more plausible to me than someone involved in trade with Europeans or randomly holding up a leopard skin rectangle.

Here's a description of the Queen mother:

As at many African courts, the Queen Mother is a woman of importance. Thus
Dapper says : "The king's mother is held in great esteem and has a splendid court,
at a little distance outside the town, beautifully and magnificently built, where she
resides with many women and daughters. She is consulted in all state affairs ; but by
dint of a special law the king and his mother are not allowed to see each other, as
long as they live." Lieut. King "was introduced to the Queen Mother, who resides
in a walled town which belonged to her, situated about three or four miles from Benin.
After having passed through two courts, he was conducted into an apartment where
all sorts of refreshments were offered him. The queen entered soon afterwards, her
right arm supported horizontally by one of her suite. She was dressed in European
silks and laden with coral ornaments, and wore a big festooned hat, like that of her
son. Through her interpreter, she addressed several questions to Lieut. King, such
as ' How do you do ?'
' What condition is your boat ?'
' How did you cross the
dangerous bar ?' " Mr. Cyril Punch informs me that in his time the king's mother
was called "lyoba ; she lived at a suburb called Iselu, about two miles north of
Benin. She did everything the king did. From the day that he fulfilled the last
rite which made him king, she never saw his face, but lived in her own quarter and
practically had her own court." - H. Ling Roth, Great Benin (1903)


So those female messengers are almost certainly officials of the Queen's court, and therefore are not likely to be traders.

(Note: The claim that the Queen mother was dressed in "European silks" is an assumption on the part of Lieutenant King, and there are several other assumptions in that book which have no backing. It's entirely possible they were European garments from trade. However there was a royal weavers guild (Owina n'Ido) in Benin and multiple European visitors (Landolphe, Burton, Punch, and more) noted the indigenous cloth making industry and the high quality of the cloth and Burton specifically noted the court weavers, so it's likely that Lieutenant King confused high quality cloth made by the royal weavers for "European silks."

Ileke-IdI:

I'm loving the picture, PhysicMHD.

I guess it's now up to me to make a Yoruba arts thread. I'm inspired.

Who knows what I might lean. . . After the finals ofcourse.

Thanks. And yeah, you should make that thread after finals. There are a LOT of Yoruba art and architecture images out there, on and off the net. I could contribute to that as well when you make it.

Two other female figures holding up a rectangular tablet/sheet. From the book Antique Works of Art from Benin (1900) by Pitt Rivers. The book displays "WORKS OF ART FROM BENIN, WEST AFRICA. OBTAINED BY THE PUNITIVE EXPEDITION IN 1897, AND NOW IN GENERAL PITT RIVERS'S MUSEUM AT FARNHAM, DORSET." (1900)

Plate number 2 from the book Antique Works of Art from Benin (1900) by Pitt Rivers.

The description given in the book is:

"Bronze plaque, representing two figures holding plaques or books in front.
Coral chokers, badge of rank. Reticulated head-dresses of coral or agate,
similar to that represented in Plate XXI, Fig. 121. Barbed objects of
unknown use behind left shoulders, ornamented with straight line diaper
pattern. Ground ornamented with foil ornaments incised. Guilloche on
sides of plaque."

But the other representations of these rectangular objects show that they are not plaques and are too thin to be books.

Bronze depicting an ekpokin (gift box for ceremonial presentations) with designs and symbols on the cover and sides. From the book Antique Works of Art from Benin (1900) by Pitt Rivers

Compare this object with the one here: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-582176.128.html

Plate number 3 from the book Antique Works of Art from Benin (1900) by Pitt Rivers.

Three court officials and/or soldiers are depicted and the one in the center is carrying an ekpokin.

A very imaginative illustration of pre-colonial Benin by a modern artist:




I got this picture from these sites:

http://nok-ind.tumblr.com/post/3143656051/an-image-of-benin-before-colonialisation

http://fyeahblackhistory.tumblr.com/post/3156437707/nok-ind-nigeria-before-colonisation


Some of the colors are likely to be wrong (the heavy and excessive emphasis on yellow/gold, possibly the blue roof and building, and the absence of white wrappers and the color white in general), but I definitely like the picture and the artist is certainly entitled to some artistic license for his or her effort.

very interesting thread.
will be back, when i have more time.

[img]http://3.bp..com/_z1JyBxIESm8/Sv1QasTZ8gI/AAAAAAAAH-U/8HJx5ouqVs0/s400/art1008.jpg[/img]

PhysicsMHD:

This statue is very beautiful. So simple and heart-pulling.

It resembles of one those asian statues ( esp the Mongolian army statue)

^^^

What are the Mongolian army statues? Do you mean the Chinese terracotta army?


And I agree, that sculpture has a distinct beauty about it.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/69418_Idia_n_iy_Esigie_jpge340c542ffc54157b222bbee5d5da0c1



I don't know whether this a modern replica of one I've already posted here, or an older work, but the color of this one is really nice.

16th century, copper alloy, Edo people, Nigeria, chief carrying a ring shaped box (gift) meant for a ceremony, four partial Portuguese figures act as decorative motifs

16th century, copper alloy, Edo people, Nigeria, high ranking soldiers with leather tunics decorated to resemble leopards' faces and with leopard necklaces and feathered hats

16th century, copper alloy, Edo people, Nigeria, war chief, page bearing ceremonial sword, two soldiers provide music with gongs and a trumpet

A Benin soldier.

An ivory leopard.

A close-up of one of the plaques.