Royal Portrait

between 1750 and 1850

Benin, African

On View

African: Fit for a King, Level 1, North Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

This regal head commemorates the important central role in Benin politics fulfilled by the Queen Mother, or lye oba, who held the rank of a high chief. Her son, the king, consulted with her about all questions of leadership and policy making during his reign. Ironically, all direct contact between the king and his mother was forbidden; they communicated from separate palaces through messengers. This bronze head, which shows the queen's distinctive "chicken's beak" hairdo, would have adorned the ancestral shrine established in her honor after her death.

Title Royal Portrait

Artwork Date between 1750 and 1850

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. African

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Benin

Medium Bronze, cast

Dimensions Sight: 21 × 10 1/2 × 10 1/2 inches (53.3 × 26.7 × 26.7 cm)

Classification Metalwork

Department African Art

Credit City of Detroit Purchase

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 26.180

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Fritz Gurlitt (Germany)

1926-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Masterpieces of Art in Memory of W.R. Valentiner. Exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art. Raleigh, April 6 - May 17, 1959, no. 217.

World Primitive Art. Exh. cat., The University Art Gallery, Oakland University. Rochester Michigan, November 4 - 29, 1965.

Detroit Collects African Art. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, April 21-May 29, 1977, no. 86 (ill.).

African Masterworks In The Detroit Institute of Arts. Washington and London: The Detroit Institute of Arts and Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995, cat. no. 33.

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