wolfgang-jaenicke
An Uhunmwu-Ẹkuẹ bronze leopard pendant
An Uhunmwu-Ẹkuẹ bronze leopard pendant
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An Uhunmwu-Ẹkuẹ bronze leopard pendant or hip mask, Nigeria, on top a leopard hunting an antelope.
Benin hip masks and pendants depicting leopards—especially in the style of the Benin bronzes—are powerful symbols that originate from the Benin Kingdom (in present-day Edo State, Nigeria). These artifacts are part of a larger body of royal and ceremonial art created by the Edo people, primarily from the 13th to 19th centuries.
Another example of a leopard hunting an Antelope. in Benin Art.
The Benin Hip Masks and Pendant Masks, called Uhunmwu-Ẹkuẹ, are among the most iconic artworks from the Kingdom of Benin (in present-day Nigeria), especially from the height of its power between the 15th and 17th centuries. These masks were typically crafted from ivory, bronze, or brass, and were used in ceremonial or courtly contexts.
Benin, hip mask, Lindenmuseum, Stuttgart , sources Digital Benin.
Uhunmwu-Ẹkuẹ are one of the best-known categories of Benin artworks. A range of human and animal heads are depicted, hence the term ‘mask’, although they were not used to cover the face. Sometimes known as ‘hip masks’, they may be worn on the belt or hung at the hip as seen cast on relief plaques and in the carved motifs on altar tusks. Many pendant masks have a series of eyelets around the edge of the lower portion, to which small crotal bells were attached, and as the wearer moved they would have chimed.
The material – ivory or brass – and the iconography depicted were important factors in who was able to wear the masks and why. For example, leopard-head pendant masks may be worn by warriors and those involved in the military, and ivory masks only by the high-ranking Ezomo or Iyase (Blackmun in Plankensteiner, 2007, p.363. Meanwhile, brass crocodile-head pendant masks were the preserve of the Ọba, and he wore them in a set of three along the front of his belt (Blackmun in Plankensteiner, 2007, p.365.
Wolfgang Jaenicke, related exemplare
Wolfgang Jaenicke related exemplare
Price on request.
Height: 20 cm without stand
Weight: 1,4 kg
