Nigeria

Ife Commemorative Bronze Head of Dignitary Cirça 16th century Bronze 12 x 6 x 9 in 35x 15 x 23 cm Yoruba people; Southwestern Nigeria, West Africa This is a commemorative bronze head from the medieval Ife kingdom that probably represents an important dignitary who was a powerful monarch during the early 16th century at the Ile Ife court Osun State Nigeria. The lost-wax casting process is a technique used by Ife, sculptors to form the shape of the effigy head in a heat-resistant clay-core. This core is then covered with a layer of wax, in which the sculptor models, carves, and incises an image. Secondly, a thin layer of finely ground liquid clay is painted over the wax model then covered with increasingly thicker layers of clay. When the clay is completely dry, the assembly is heated to melt out the wax leaving an empty image or mold of the sculpted image of the head; for the hot molten metal to be filled in where the wax was, and hot metal is poured into the mold. The sculptor must turn the complete assembly upside down to pour the hot molten metal, which is generally a mixture of copper alloys or brass. When the molten metal has cooled, the outer clay casing and inner clay core are broken to remove the casted sculpture or head. Provenance: This artifact is an extremely rare and important archeological find from the Ife civilization. Ex- collection of the British trader and empire builder Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie (1846-1925) created the Royal Niger Company, which secured British claims to the lower Niger and Northern Nigeria. The époque of the Ife civilization is presumed to be from the classic period to between the 13th–16th centuries. The results of thermoluminescence testing (report number 17R030519) conducted by the Kotalla Laboratory research facilities in Germany reports that sampling taken from the core of the cast and on the inside of the nose and mouth shows that this artifact was last fired into its present construction approximately 520 years ago, with an actual date reported as 1531 AD, which is consistent with the suggested period of the Ife civilization. Historical Provenance of Acquisition for the two bronzes We have obtained from Ooni or Chief Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi of Ifè a certified letter stating the historical provenance of the two artifacts. This documented certified and stamped letter gives the complete ownership history from the time it was first offered by Ooni Adelekan Olubuse I to the Oba Osanobua Ovonramwen, of Benin, in 1890. This was prior to the occurrence, to the British punitive expedition that entered Benin, city on the 18th of January 1897. This was prior to the exile or deportation of to the Oba Osanobua Ovonramwen, imposed by the British. It was during the reign of the grandson of Oba Osanobua Ovonramwen, Oba Osanobua Akenzua II in 1921 that the Benin Commemorative Bronze Plaque and the Ifè Commemorative Bronze Head of a Dignitary; was offered to Dr. George Goldie, for services rendered loyally to the Benin, population. It was on the death of Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie, 1925 that the two bronzes one Benin Royal Commemorative Plaque and one Ifè Commemorative head of a Dignitary were sold to Mr. Alaji Inoua, an expert in Benin and Ifè artifacts, and in 1990 Prince Mamouda Mfondouop, purchased the two artifacts, which was later acquired by Maxwell Price.