₦airaland Forum

https://imageshack.us/a/img832/4492/manandbasreliefsonwalls.jpg

Found this on the University of Southern California's Digital Library website. Here's some information on the picture:

Title: Man and bas-reliefs on walls of royal palace, Abomey, Benin, ca. 1925-26.

Description: "Bas-reliefs on Palace walls." Bas-relief showing an Amazon warrior with prisoner.; From a set of lantern slides entitled "Dahomey, the stronghold of the fetich" compiled by Frank Deaville Walker (1878-1945), editor of the Methodist Missionary Society magazines Foreign Field and its successor, Kingdom Overseas. Many of the photographs Walker used were his own, taken on visits to the MMS mission fields between 1920 and 1937. His trip to West Africa when the photographs in this set were taken took place ca. 1925-1926.

Geographic subject (city or populated place): Abomey
Geographic subject (country): Benin
Photographer: Walker, Frank Deaville

https://imageshack.us/a/img29/6159/856001copy.jpg

Bas-reliefs on the palace of Behanzin in Dahomey.

I got this image from a site that shows old postcards, but I couldn't find an exact date.

I like science fiction stuff so I'll check it out.

I doubt there's anyone in the world right now who has any clue what their motive was, so him not being able to talk after being captured makes the whole tragedy even worse. But maybe these kids were just crazy and didn't have any larger goal.

pleep: Prostitution performs a very useful function in society.... infact it think it should be legal world-wide.

Because of the disparities in sexual appetitite between and and women there is an over-abundance of male libido that is not being satisfied. If this excess male energy is not taken care of it will spill over into the regular dating scene and contaminate the market.

Sexually desperate men will be fighting to court women by every means nessecary with money, expensive dinners etc. In lay-mans terms "driving up the price of pussy."

If you Nigerian guys think you are wasting your money on women now, imagine how much worse your situation would be if there was no prostitution.

And what about STDs?

I thought you were against s3xual promiscuity in general.

Unfortunate (comparing his name to a children's book character). But no one has a choice in what their parents decide to name them.

GotNoBrainsYo: So you think the Sultan of Sokoto, will carry his Shokoto and go and wait for HRH. Or that the Shehu of Borno
will go and wait for HRH at an airport without royal aides?
Please let me hear word. The Oba denigrated his Office as far as I am concerned. Carry GO!

I don't know all the details of the queen's visit to the north in 1956, just like I don't know whether Oba Akenzua II had any "royal aides" (for?) there with him in Benin in 1956 or not (although obviously he didn't bring an entire "entourage" for no reason) but I easily found out enough from a quick online search to know that what you're saying is nonsense. The Sultan of Sokoto and the Shehu of Borno did leave their palaces to wait for Queen Elizabeth - at the Kaduna Durbar in 1956 when she visited that city as part of her tour:

"The queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in an open Rolls Royce, circling the racecourse twice before taking their seats on the dais of the durbar pavillion, where they were joined by the governor of the region, Sir Bryan E. Sharwood-Smith, and his wife, Lady Sharwood-Smith, by the premier, the Sardauna of Sokoto, and by the sultan of Sokoto and the Shehu of Borno, who left their seats only to lead their contingents on horseback." - Andrew Apter, "The Subversion of Tradition: A Genealogy of the Nigerian Durbar" (from p. 238 of the book State Culture: The Study of State Formation After the Cultural Turn)

This is a link to the full article from that book: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/apter/apter_subvention_tradition_nigerian_durbar.pdf

If the previous Sultan of Sokoto could "carry his Shokoto" and go to Kaduna to wait for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the Kaduna Durbar in 1956, and then bow as he was being knighted by her (there is a photograph of it in that same article on p. 241 of that book mentioned above), then I don't think you have a point. If the sultan was so obsessed with showing indifference and acting standoffish like you guys would like, why would he even bother to accept being knighted, and why would he travel to Kaduna to do so? And the Shehu also traveled out of Borno to Kaduna specifically for this Durbar held in honor of the queen's royal visit.

These Durbars originated in British ruled India and were originally introduced to Northern Nigeria by the British so that the Northern rulers could acknowledge their role as subjects of the British empire and pay obeisance to the British rulers. The first Northern Nigerian Durbar was held in 1900 in honor of Lord Lugard, another was held in 1925 in honor of the visit of the Prince of Wales, and one was held in 1956 in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Kaduna.

The point is, all that haughty and standoffish behavior that you guys desperately wanted to see was not in vogue then among anybody. All it takes is a little maturity to realize that exhibiting politeness and graciousness isn't belittling one's throne. Some people are so desperate in their desire to see anyone or anything exemplary from another group/culture denigrated that they delude and confuse themselves into thinking an entire kingship can be belittled by one courteous "bow".

This guy just has no sense of propriety. He's always doing or saying something extremely wrong and somehow getting away with it. If Ivanovich hadn't thrown him off, Suarez would probably have gone full cannibal and taken a piece of his shoulder.

GotNoBrainsYo: I dont know where to begin.
Are we talking about European Aristocratic tradition, Or African Aristocratic/Royal Tradition.
Where is his entourage as a Royal?
Why he is there at the tarmac waiting for her?

The Oba belittled his Kingship. PERIOD.

This is all about courtesy and politeness (something which a lot of people in this thread obviously have difficulty with) and people like you were making much of something that you guys think was a faux pas or gaffe, but which would just have been viewed at the time as politeness. I'm at a loss as to how so many people here can think that every encounter between an African and a European requires that the African has to puff out their chest, strut, and act standoffish - even when the European is just some delicate little lady smiling there with a handbag. It seems like a very immature view to take. I doubt that either of the two people shaking hands in that picture would have understood all these imaginary power dynamics you guys are reading into that handshake.

The other thing you seem to have missed is that Oba Akenzua II did not "bow" to Prince Phillip (British royalty) - not only because they are actually around the same height but because Philip isn't a lady so the convention of bowing when greeting a lady wouldn't even apply.

Anyway, Oba Akenzua II refused to go to Ibadan (the capital) to meet Queen Elizabeth II, so her tour was changed so that she would visit Benin and meet with the Oba there. I'm not sure how requiring from the tour organizers that she (the Queen) visit Oba Akenzua II in Benin rather than the Oba traveling to meet her wherever else she was going is belittling his kingship.

As for "African Aristocratic/Royal Tradition", is there some all inclusive "African Aristocratic Tradition" with set conventions that every African monarch or aristocrat adheres to? Because there is considerable variation in customs and tradition among African monarchs - for example this "entourage" stuff. What entourage are you talking about? Why should the Oba have had his whole "entourage" (whatever exactly you think that should have consisted of) there? And I don't see Queen Elizabeth's "entourage" in those photos, so I don't see what your point is.

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/1/4/35814_images_image_1422_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1894. Delafosse, Maurice. "Le trône de Béhanzin et les portes des palais d'Abomé au Musée Ethnographique du Trocadéro." La Nature. Revue des sciences et de leurs applications aux arts et à l'industrie, Vol. 22, No. 1090.

Original language: French

Caption translation: 2. Carved wooden door from an Abomey palace. 3. Other carved wooden door carved from an Abomey palace. (These doors are currently on exhibit at the Musée Ethnographique du Trocadéro in Paris.)

Text translation: “The gates taken from the palaces of Abomé are no less curious. They are four in number; two are absolutely identical; on the other two, one notes only minor differences. Each is around 1.50m tall, which indicated that one had to stoop to enter the palaces of Abomé. They show two panels of equal size and are made up of three or five, vertically juxtaposed. The whole is enclosed in a sort of sculpted frame. The corners were protected by plates of copper of which several have unfortunately disappeared, not in Dahomey, but since the gates have been exposed to the Parisian public. What is most interesting are the reliefs that have been stuck to these gates. They are analogous representations to those found on the frescoes or bas-reliefs in many Dahomeyan temples or palaces, and of which La Nature published some examples in one of its recent editions. Dr. Répin, in a journey tp Dahomey he made in 1860, signals the presence, on the walls of a temple in Cana, of frescoes representing a serpent, a ship and a hangman having just beheaded a captive (*). […] The objects represented on the gates exposed at the Trocadéro, like all the subjects of Dahomeyan paintings and bas-reliefs, can be split into three distinct categories. The first category comprises real objects: animals, utensils, weapons. Thus we find on one of the gates reproduced opposite (fig. 2), frogs, an elephant, a horse, a dog, an antelope, with a sword, two puzzles (?) and a rifle; on the other gate (fog. 3), one can see shells, two short swords, a puzzle and two rifles […] The second category comprises subjects relating to the history and the kings of Dahomey. In the frescoes and bas-reliefs they are veritable scenes. On the gates we find the kings’ symbols. On the first gate, can only be seen the red cock with black wings, symbol of King Guézo, which suggests that this gate was made in that king’s reign and predates the other. Its counterpart displays a fairly well-executed lion, symbol of King Guélélé; furthermore, three scepters are shown topped respectively by a ram’s head, a cock and a shark. The latter two evidently represent Guézo and Béhanzin’s scepters. The first must be that of Tegbouésoun or Bossa-Ahadi, who ruled from 1720 to 1775, and whose symbolic name was Agbo, which means the Ram. Finally, the third category is that of religious symbols. And, on this topic, I think it would be useful to say here a few words on the Dahomeyan religion. (p.258) "Such is Ayidoouédo, the spirit of the rainbow, the messenger of Lisa and Maoun, who incarnates himself in the chameleon: this symbol can be seen represented on one of the gates (fig. 3), in the form of a chameleon linked to the sun and the crescent moon by a double cable. Such also is Dangbé, who takes the form of a serpent, and whose worship is so popular at Guida; he also figures on the gates which illustrate this Notice (fig. 3). Such also are the hearth spirit, which is incarnated in certain trees, and the guardian spirit of the kings; who takes the form of the leopard. […] I have every reason to believe that the bizarre figure sculpted above an antelope on the lower panel of one of the gates (fig. 2), and which must represent a mask made up of a nose and two eyes, is the symbol of Afa: the priests of this vodoun, indeed, often cover their faces with a similar mask, when they prepare to consult the oracle." (pp. 329-330) *[f/n: Dr. Répin, Voyage au Dahomey. (Tour du Monde, 1863, 1st semester)]

Illustrator: Dietrich Dietrich, signed

Illustration technique: studio engraving

Publication page: 329

Publication plate/figure: figures 2-3

Keywords:
• Abomey (Country, region, place)
• Benin Republic (Country, region, place)
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• relief (Materials and techniques)
• chameleon (Notable features)
• dog (Notable features)
• elephant (Notable features)
• lion (Notable features)
• saber (Notable features)
• weapons (Notable features)
• animals (Notable features)
• royal insignia (Notable features)
• serpent (Notable features)
• palace doors (Object name, type)
• panels (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

@ Ishilove, I've changed the email account for my NL username now. Try sending the PM again.

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/6/7/39547_images_image_6769_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: June 16, 1907. "Nos Gravures." Le Petit Parisien. Supplément littéraire illustré, Vol. 19th year, No. 958.

Original language: French

Caption translation: In Dahomey - Fetish Dance of the Stilt-Walkers.

Text translation: Our Engravings. […] In his notes, Captain Plé gives an account of his feeling of indescribable joy, especially after arriving in Méko. He was welcomed with all the ceremonial pomp. Our engraving shows one of these moments, the dance of the fetishist-stilt-walkers. Raised up on tall, bamboo stilts, dressed in crude – but striking – clothes, wearing straw pants and a tall hat on their head with their face veiled, they move about, charging into the crowd, which backs up after each rush forward, motioning toward, hurling insults at, and taunting the fetishist-stilt-walkers. This fetish dance is, apparently, the expression of a communal joy that is shown on the occasion of a fortunate event.

Illustrator: Paul Dufresne (?), Laurevs, Sc (LR), [engraver] Paul Dufresne (?) (LR)

Illustration technique: color field engraving

Publication page: 192

Publication plate/figure: plate

Keywords:
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• Mako (Country, region, place)
• masquerade (Notable features)
• stilts (Notable features)
• face cover (Object name, type)
• headdress (Object name, type)
• mask (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

Ishilove: Acshually sir, it is veeeery private

I see.

Well I'll make a new email account, change my NL email account from the current one to that new email account, and then you can try sending me the message again. Give me 10 to 15 minutes, before resending the message.

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/3/6/18762_images_image_3614_image.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1863. Répin, M. Le Dr. "Voyage au Dahomey / 1860?? Texte et dessins inédite." Le Tour du Monde: Nouveau journal des Voyages, Vol. VII, No. 162.

Original language: French

Caption translation: UTENSILS AND INSTRUMENTS. [top row, L to R]: Orchestra gourd (P. 91); Cambodé bell; Orchestra bells (P. 91) [bottom row L to R]: Sculpted stool (P. 90); War drum (P. 91); Sculpted wooden urn or vase.

Text translation: “We went to greet the king, who stood up in a show of politeness. At the head of the line marched thirty or so musicians. Some were blowing into the tusks of elephants pierced at the small end and producing a raspy sound comparable to that of a shepherd's horn; the others were beating some types of drums made from deerskin stretched over a block of wood hollowed out like a mortar; the latter shook a bizarre instrument that I have never seen; it is an emptied calabash, dried and enveloped by a very loose net in which each node holds a sheep vertebra. Others still were beating bells similar to those that hang on the neck of cows in certain provinces in France with tiny iron rods .” (p. 91)

Illustration technique: studio engraving

Publication page: 92

Keywords:
• République du Bénin (Country, region, place)
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• metal ? (Materials and techniques)
• duck (Notable features)
• dog (Notable features)
• figurated finial (Notable features)
• gong (Object name, type)
• bell (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

[img]http://static1.akpool.de/images/cards/62/620310.jpg[/img]

I got the image from this site (I couldn't find a better source):

http://www.akpool.co.uk/postcards/24334492-postcard-abomey-dahomey-benin-bas-reliefs-im-koenigspalast-fisch-kopf

(I've posted this image twice already, but I'm just posting it again with the comments of a different writer.)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/3/2/24142_images_image_3299_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1894. "Dahomé nach den neuen französischen Forschungen. II." Globus: Illustrierte Zeitschrift für Länder- und Völkerkunde., Vol. LXVI, No. 18.

Original language: German

Caption translation: Fig. 12. Wood carving from the palace of Abomé.

Caption: Fig. 12. Holzschnitzerei vom Palaste von Abomé.

Text translation: "A second picture (Fig. 12) shows us a bas relief group from another palace in Dahomé which was collected on the spot. We have here a representation from Dahomé's history in a written language that is only known among a certain class of priests and which, like Egyptian hieroglyphics, is a mixture of pictures and symbols. Captain Fonssagrives, who collected a number of such representations, is still occupied with decoding them with the help of native priests." (p. 283)

Illustration technique: studio engraving

Publication page: 283

Publication plate/figure: fig 12

Keywords:
• Abomey (Country, region, place)
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• wood (Materials and techniques)
• biting (Notable features)
• fighting (Notable features)
• men (Notable features)
• devouring (Notable features)
• fish (Notable features)
• weapons (Notable features)
• bas-relief (Object name, type)
• hieroglyph (Object name, type)
• ideograph (Object name, type)
• royal emblem (Object name, type)
• wall panel (Object name, type)
• palace decoration (Object name, type)
• symbol (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

Ishilove: Goodday Mr Phyics. Have you read my mail yet?

Oh, so you were the one sending me the PMs! I was wondering who it was.

No, I haven't read them because the emails from NL don't seem to be showing up in my inbox or my junk mail. I was asking the mods what I could do about this in the complaints thread in the politics section, but I didn't get a solution.

Anyway, if it's not too personal/private, what is it that you wanted to send me a message about?

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/6/7/22308_images_image_6797_medium.jpg[/img]

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/6/7/25394_images_image_6798_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1894. Delafosse, Maurice. "Statues des rois de Dahomé au Musée ethnographique du Trocadéro." La Nature. Revue des sciences et de leurs applications aux arts et à l'industrie., Vol. 22, No. 1086.

Original language: French

Caption: Fig. 1.—Bas-reliefs des palais d’Abomé au Dahomé. (D’après les aquarelles de M. le capitaine Fonssagrives.)

Fig. 2.—Autres bas-reliefs des palais d’Abomé. (D’après les aquarelles de M. le capitaine Fonssagrives.)

Text translation: "Other watercolors by the same officer [Captain Fonssagrives] reproduce the bas reliefs and paintings that decorate the murals of the palace at Abomé. I thought it would be interesting to reproduce here some of the most curious of the motifs of these bas-reliefs, which in more than one respect recall the steles of Egyptian monuments (fig. 1 and 2): these are, no doubt about it, the principal episodes of Dahomean history that the black artist wanted to represent. The kings are represented by their symbols: Guézo is depicted as a bird that must be a cock, Guélélé by a lion, Béhanzin by a fish that has got to be seen as a shark. Several scenes represent a European in the clutches of a native, and the latter is always victorious. Next to these royal symbols and historic paintings, certain figures recall the symbols of the gods, which are also found on the carved doors brought back by General Dodds; the sacred serpent, the chameleon, symbol of the rainbow, the horse, symbol of the god of war, the leopard, symbol of the royal protective divinity, etc. Then some veritable hieroglyphs, sacred characters, the meanings of which only the priests of Afa understand. (p.263) "Perhaps alone among the kings of Dahomé, Guézo was a human character who showed social concern for the life of his subjects" (p.265). “His name seems to mean ‘he who levels the fire’. His symbolic nickname of Kokulo ‘the cock’ was no doubt given to him due to his vigilance in overseeing the interests of his kingdom. His emblem, a red cockerel with black wings, often features, as I was saying above, in the paintings and hieroglyphic bas-reliefs of Abome’s palaces.” (p.266) Upon his death, in 1858, the chief priests divided into to parties. One wanted to give the dead king a successor who might continue his traditions of humanity and progress. But the priests upheld by the barbarian hordes of the Amazons caused the triumph of one of the sons of Guézo, the blood Gbadou, who in acceding to the crown took the name of Guélélé. He was surnamed Kinikini "the Lion", and this animal is his emblem. With him, old customs were returned to honor with all their savage cruelty." (p.266). "When he died in 1889, his son Kondo suceeded him and took the name Béhanzin, or better, Gbéhanzin, which signifies 'Ripe Herb'. Others said Gbénazin, 'the herb will ripen' or again Gbédazin, 'bite of ripe hay', but his symbolic surname is Gbowélé and the shark is his emblem.” (p.266).


Illustrator: , signed "Dietrich" lower right corner

Illustration technique: b/w engraving

Publication page: p. 264

Publication plate/figure: figure 1

Keywords:
• Abomey (Country, region, place)
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• République du Bénin (Country, region, place)
• animals (Notable features)
• bird (Notable features)
• boat (Notable features)
• hunter (Notable features)
• kpo (Notable features)
• lion (Notable features)
• skull (Notable features)
• tree (Notable features)
• recade (Notable features)
• warrior (Notable features)
• bas-relief (Object name, type)
• hieroglyph (Object name, type)
• ideograph (Object name, type)
• palace decoration (Object name, type)
• royal emblem (Object name, type)
• wall panel (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/4/61933_images_image_467_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1895. d'Albéca, Alexandre L. La France au Dahomey.

Original language: French

Caption translation: Historical low-reliefs and frescoes.

Illustrator: Krieger Krieger, signed

Illustration technique: studio engraving

Publication page: 111

Publication plate/figure: figure

Keywords:
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• Republic of Benin (Country, region, place)
• ships (Notable features)
• animals (Notable features)
• crocodiles (Notable features)
• fish (Notable features)
• masks (Notable features)
• warfare scenes (Notable features)
• weapons (Notable features)
• bas-reliefs (Object name, type)
• frescoes (Object name, type)
• Fon (?) (Style, culture group)

I doubt that that's the case, but who knows. . .

The email account that I'm using with Nairaland happens to be a Microsoft hotmail account and they recently updated/changed their system so that all hotmail accounts became Microsoft outlook accounts. So maybe that's why I'm not getting the emails from NL about the PM someone sent me. The thing is, I get emails from other places just fine with the outlook account. Emails from other sources that I used to get with the hotmail account and still get with the outlook account show up just fine. But not emails from NL.

Yeah, I checked my junk mail. Didn't see anything, so I think some sort of error must have occurred.

Hey, quick question for the mods or for the administrator (Seun):

I now have a message at the top of the page that says "You have 1 new Nairaland PM. Please check your e-mail account now." but when I go to check the email account for my username, I don't see any email that has been sent.

Who is sending me a PM anyway, and how do I get it to appear or get the email that was sent to my email account to appear?

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/2/5/72533_images_image_2572_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1894. Verneau, R. "Statues des rois de Dahomé. Le trône de Béhanzin et les portes des palais d'Abomé, par Maurice Delafosse" [book review]." l'Anthropologie, Vol. 5.

Original language: French

Caption translation: Other bas-reliefs from the palaces of Abomé. (According to the watercolors of Captain Fonssagrives.)

Text translation: “These bas-reliefs, written in a language and with known ideographic and symbolic characters of the only priests of Afa, hold the annals of the Dahomé. It is very curious to find, in a black country, a system of historic hieroglyph that had been thought to have been located in Egypt and in America. The deciphering of these inscriptions, beginning with Captain Fonssagrives, has been continued by one of his colleagues with the aid of the priests of Afa and the princes of the royal family.” (p. 365)

Illustrator: Dietrich; Fonssagrives, signed in LR; Dietrich (engraver), Fonssagrives (artist)

Illustration technique: studio engraving; after watercolor

Keywords:
• Abomey (Country, region, place)
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• relief (Materials and techniques)
• carved (Materials and techniques)
• wood (Materials and techniques)
• biting (Notable features)
• fish (Notable features)
• hunter (Notable features)
• symbols (Notable features)
• devouring (Notable features)
• fighting (Notable features)
• hieroglyphs (Notable features)
• weapons (Notable features)
• bas-relief (Object name, type)
• hieroglyph (Object name, type)
• ideograph (Object name, type)
• royal emblem (Object name, type)
• wall panel (Object name, type)
• palace decoration (Object name, type)
• symbol (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/2/5/81151_images_image_2571_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1894. Verneau, R. "Statues des rois de Dahomé. Le trône de Béhanzin et les portes des palais d'Abomé, par Maurice Delafosse" [book review]." l'Anthropologie, Vol. 5.

Original language: French

Caption translation: Bas reliefs from Abomey palaces. (After watercolors by the Captain Fonssagrives.)

Text translation: "These bas-reliefs, written in a language and with ideographic and symbolic characters known only to the priests of Afa, inscribe the history of Dahomé. It is very interesting to discover, in negro lands, a system of historic hieroglyphics that had been thought to be found only in Egypt and in America. The deciphering of these inscriptions, begun by Captain Fonssagrives, was continued by one of his colleagues, with the help of the priests of Afa and the princes of the royal family." (p.365)

Illustrator: Dietrich; Fonssagrives, signed LR; Dietrich (engraver); Fonssagrives (artist)

Illustration technique: studio engraving; after watercolor

Keywords:
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• République du Bénin (Country, region, place)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• bird (Notable features)
• dog (Notable features)
• kpo (Notable features)
• lion (Notable features)
• recade (Notable features)
• tree (Notable features)
• weapons (Notable features)
• bird (Notable features)
• boat (Notable features)
• recade (Notable features)
• symbols (Notable features)
• warrior (Notable features)
• hieroglyph (Object name, type)
• palace decoration (Object name, type)
• royal emblem (Object name, type)
• bas relief (Object name, type)
• wall panel (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

[img]http://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1167946&t=w[/img]

The reception of the " Ah-Haussoo-Noh-Beh," or " Queens Mouths." (1851)

Image Details

Image Title
: The reception of the " Ah-Haussoo-Noh-Beh," or " Queens Mouths."

Additional Name(s)
: Forbes, Frederick E. (Frederick Edwyn) -- Author

Specific Material Type
: Prints

Item/Page/Plate
: Facing page 75

Source
: Dahomey and the Dahomans; being the journals of two missions to the king of Dahomey, and residence at his capital, in the year the king of Dahomey, and residence at his capital, in the year the king of Dahomey, and residence at his capital, in the year 1849 and 1850. By Frederick E. Forbes.

Source Description
: 2 v. col. fronts., plates (part col.) col. ports. 20 cm.

Location
: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture / General Research and Reference Division

Subjects and Names

Africa
Forbes, Frederick E. (Frederick Edwyn)
Manners & customs -- Africa
Rites & ceremonies -- Africa

[img]http://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1167945&t=w[/img]

The gates of Dahomey. (1851)

Image Details

Image Title
: The gates of Dahomey.

Additional Name(s)
: Forbes, Frederick E. (Frederick Edwyn) -- Author

Specific Material Type
: Prints

Item/Page/Plate
: Facing page 69

Source
: Dahomey and the Dahomans; being the journals of two missions to the king of Dahomey, and residence at his capital, in the year the king of Dahomey, and residence at his capital, in the year the king of Dahomey, and residence at his capital, in the year 1849 and 1850. By Frederick E. Forbes.

Source Description
: 2 v. col. fronts., plates (part col.) col. ports. 20 cm.

Location
: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture / General Research and Reference Division

Subjects and Names

Africa
Dahomey
Forbes, Frederick E. (Frederick Edwyn)
Gates -- Dahomey

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/1/0/93598_images_image_1046_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1920. Réal, Daniel. "Note Sur l'Art Dahoméen." L'Anthropologie, Vol. 30.

Original language: French

Caption translation: Fetish cup of carved wood. (H. = 20 cm; W. = 15 cm.) Albeca colleciton. - Musée d'Ethnographie No. 26.298

Text translation: "That which seems to me the most successful in the cups series, from the point of view of the equilibrium of the forms, is a cup supported by a serpent coiled in a spiral; he has his mouth open and his tongue linked to the plate…The serpent is painted black; it is decorated with a series of small alternating red and sky blue lines…with white horns, eyes and teeth of the same color. The cup is blue, bordered with red; the pieces falling laterally are rays of red and yellow horizontal bands.” (p. 375)

Illustrator: , unsigned

Illustration technique: studio drawing

Keywords:
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• polychrome (Materials and techniques)
• hanging tongue (Notable features)
• caryatid serpent (Notable features)
• open mouth (Notable features)
• small ears (Notable features)
• cup (Object name, type)
• divination bowl (Object name, type)
• vessel (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/5/2/85578_images_image_5211_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1908. Frazer, J.G. "Statues of Three Kings of Dahomey." MAN: A Monthly Record of Anthropological Science., Vol. VIII, No. 73.

Text: “The throne, of which a photograph is here given, belonged to the lion king Guelelé and shows his emblem, a lion. To this I would add that in the great Anthropological Museum at Berlin there is a statue of a West African king, I think from Dahomey, which represents the monarch with the whiskers of a leopard. Professor von Luschan called my attention to it when I was at Berlin some years ago, and he told me, if I remember aright, that the king bore the name or surname of Leopard.” (p. 132)

Illustration technique: b/w studio photograph

Publication page: 132

Keywords:
• Abomey (Country, region, place)
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• Republic of Benin (Country, region, place)
• metal (Materials and techniques)
• pigment (Materials and techniques)
• wood (Materials and techniques)
• lion (Notable features)
• royal emblem (Object name, type)
• king Glélé's throne (Object name, type)
• regalia (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/7/9571_images_image_765_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1910. Read, Charles H., T. A. Joyce and O. M. Dalton. Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections, British Museum.

Caption: "Knives and axes from West Africa. A. Dahomi. B. Ashanti. C. Fang and other Gaboon tribes. D. Fang throwing knife. E. sheath of D. (brass). F. Gaboon tribes. G. Dahomi."

Illustration technique: studio engraving

Keywords:
• Benin Republic (Country, region, place)
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• West Africa (Country, region, place)
• metal (Materials and techniques)
• wood (Materials and techniques)
• animal head (Notable features)
• open mouth (Notable features)
• figurated (Notable features)
• kpo ? (Object name, type)
• recade ? (Object name, type)
• weapon (Object name, type)
• ceremonial axe (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/1/0/54673_images_image_1049_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1920. Réal, Daniel. "Note Sur l'Art Dahoméen." L'Anthropologie, Vol. 30.

Original language: French

Caption translation: 8. (center) Cane of the Chief. Bibliothèque Nationale. - Musée d'Ethnographie No. 14509. (left) Copper axe with an openwork design. Foa Collection. Musée d'Ethnographie No. 30.90710. (right) Copper show axe. Elliot Collection.- Musée d'Ethnographie No. 44.829.

Text translation: “The wood, like in the majority of these batons, has preserved its natural color; there is, however, a band of fairly soft green under the small dais, the hair of a human character is blackened and the necklace is the same discreet green.” (p. 379)

Illustration technique: b/w studio photograph

Keywords:
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• Republic of Benin (Country, region, place)
• copper (Materials and techniques)
• inlay (Materials and techniques)
• openwork (Materials and techniques)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• human (Notable features)
• monkey (Notable features)
• finial (Notable features)
• regalia (Object name, type)
• royal emblem (Object name, type)
• stave (Object name, type)
• display axe (Object name, type)
• kpo (Object name, type)
• recade (Object name, type)
• staff (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/5/0/55631_images_image_5099_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1895. Blanchard, Jean-Baptiste and Adolphe Badin. Au Dahomey. Journal de la Campagne par un Marsouin.

Original language: French

Caption translation: Royal staffs of Béhanzin.

Text translation: "The peace negotiations that Béhanzin began with the General have not advanced one bit. Every evening we see two big cabeçère devils arrive dressed in skirts made of multicolored silk and carrying the royal staff, which serves them as letter of introduction and credential; these are the ambassadors of Béhanzin." (pp. 249-250)

Illustration technique: studio engraving

Publication page: 253

Keywords:
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• Republic of Benin (Country, region, place)
• copper (Materials and techniques)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• silver (Materials and techniques)
• knob (Notable features)
• fins (Notable features)
• ruby eyes (Notable features)
• shark's head (Notable features)
• insignia (Object name, type)
• staff (Object name, type)
• ceremonial axe (Object name, type)
• kpo (Object name, type)
• recade (Object name, type)
• regalia (Object name, type)
• royal emblem (Object name, type)
• scepter (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)