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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Pectoral with two officials
Edo, Benin kingdom, Nigeria
16th–17th century
Medium/Technique
Copper alloy
Dimensions
Length x width: 31.1 x 28.6 cm (12 1/4 x 11 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Robert Owen Lehman Collection
Accession NumberL-G 7.28.2012
CollectionsJewelry, Africa and Oceania
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Pectorals
Provenance16th/17th century, probably commissioned from the Igun Eronmwon, or royal brasscasters guild, by a member of the royal court of Benin; by descent to Oba Ovonramwen (Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, b. about 1857 – d. about 1914; r. 1888 - 1897); 1897, looted from the Royal Palace during the British military occupation of Benin. August 12, 1897, sold by Miss Eva Cutter (dealer), London for £ 15 to Lt. General Lt.-General Augustus Henry Pitt-Rivers (b. 1827 - d. 1900), Farnham, England; 1966, Pitt-Rivers Museum closed and collection passed by descent to Stella Howson-Clive (Pitt-Rivers), Dorset [see note]. By 2011, Robert Owen Lehman, Rochester, NY; 2012, promised gift of Robert Owen Lehman to the MFA.
NOTE:
Augustus Pitt-Rivers established a privately-owned museum in Dorset in 1880, where he housed acquisitions he made between 1880 and 1900. He kept several notebooks recording the collection, now held by Cambridge University. The collection passed by descent through Augustus Henry Pitt-Rivers’s son, Alexander Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, to his grandson, Captain George Pitt-Rivers (1890-1966) and his common law wife, Stella Howson-Clive (Pitt-Rivers). The museum closed in 1966 and portions of the collection were sold.
NOTE:
Augustus Pitt-Rivers established a privately-owned museum in Dorset in 1880, where he housed acquisitions he made between 1880 and 1900. He kept several notebooks recording the collection, now held by Cambridge University. The collection passed by descent through Augustus Henry Pitt-Rivers’s son, Alexander Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, to his grandson, Captain George Pitt-Rivers (1890-1966) and his common law wife, Stella Howson-Clive (Pitt-Rivers). The museum closed in 1966 and portions of the collection were sold.