African Art

Commemorative Head (Uhmwelao), 19th century
Wood and brass sheeting
Unknown Edo artist
Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria
Museum purchase 1962.10

The Edo people of Benin venerate paternal ancestors, who in turn protect their living descendants. This wooden head commemorates a dead chief. Similar heads, cast in brass, commemorated deceased divine kings, or Obas, of Benin. When a chief died, his son could ask the king to allow him to commission a wooden head from the king’s woodcarvers guild, so that the chief could be properly honored and invoked as an ancestor at a household shrine.

The brass-covered rings around the base of this figure’s neck and at the base of his headdress represent red coral bead necklaces that were part of the Oba’s treasury, and which were given to court members as signs of office, status, and their service to the king. The brass strip down the figure’s nose probably refers to the tattoos worn by certain categories of servants to the court to show their loyalty to the king. The fish eagle feather, also covered in brass sheeting, indicates the man’s lengthy term in office.