What it is: A copper-alloy sculpture of an African ruler's head
When it was made: Mid-1500s
This particular bust is in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), which acquired it from prominent French art dealer Louis Carré, who sold many of the artifacts looted from Benin to Western museums in the 1930s. This head of an oba ancestor, also known as "uhunmwun-elao" in the Edo language spoken in the historic Kingdom of Benin, is roughly 1 foot (30 centimeters) tall and was made from a copper alloy, using a lost-wax casting process that would produce one unique bust, then-CMA curator William Milliken wrote in a 1937 study.
Many of the surviving ancestral commemorative heads were created in the 15th and 16th centuries by the Igun Eronmwon, a hereditary guild of brass and bronze artisans that made objects for royalty in the Kingdom of Benin. According to the CMA, Benin royalty prized brass because it does not corrode. Much of the African brass was imported from as far away as Germany.
Some institutions have begun repatriating this historic royal art back to its homeland. A group of German museums that collectively held over 1,100 of these objects transferred ownership of them to Nigeria in 2022. That same year, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art transferred ownership of 29 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. And, in 2025, the Netherlands returned 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. To date, however, the British Museum has not officially returned any of the Benin Bronzes in its collection.
A full catalog of royal artifacts looted from Benin in the late 19th century can be found on the Digital Benin project website.
Kerch Crown
Fire Flame Vessel
Can you put together last week's Astonishing Artifact?
Hence then, the article about ancestral commemorative head a 500 year old brass bust depicting an african king was published today ( ) and is available on Live Science ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Ancestral commemorative head: A 500-year-old brass bust depicting an African king )
Also on site :
- Walmart’s ‘Vintage-Style’ $15 Cordless Milk Glass Lamp Has All the Retro Charm of an Antique Store Find
- The Trump Family’s Ireland Trip: From a Bathroom Mirror Selfie with the President to Twinning with Don Jr.
- ‘The Last Photograph’ Review: DC’s Zack Snyder Comes Back Down To Earth With A Violent But Surprisingly Human Action Drama – Toronto Film Festival