The Bronze Head of Queen Idia is a commemorative bronze head from the medieval

Kingdom of Benin The Kingdom of Benin, also known as the Edo Kingdom, or the Benin Empire ( Bini: ') was a kingdom within what is now southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern republic of Benin, which was known as Dahomey from the 17th ce ...

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

that probably represents Idia, mother of

Oba Esigie Oba Esigie was an Oba (king) of Benin who ruled the ancient Benin Kingdom, now Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria (c.1504 – c.1550). At the time of his father Oba Ozolua's death, Esigie controlled Benin City and his brother Arhuaran controlled ...

, made during the early sixteenth century at the Benin court. Many Benin works of art entered the European art market after the Benin Expedition of 1897 – Four cast bronze heads of the queen are known and are currently in the collections of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London, the

World Museum World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...

in Liverpool, the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos, and the

Ethnological Museum of Berlin The Ethnological Museum of Berlin (german: Ethnologisches Museum Berlin) is one of the Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin), the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presently located in ...

Description

The bronze head was made using the

lost wax casting Lost-wax casting (also called "investment casting", "precision casting", or ''cire perdue'' which has been adopted into English from the French, ) is the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture (often silver, gold, brass, or bronze) is ...

technique in the early sixteenth century. It is a very realistic representation of a young woman from the Benin court, who wears a high pointed '' ukpe-okhue'' crown of

lattice Lattice may refer to: Arts and design * Latticework, an ornamental criss-crossed framework, an arrangement of crossing laths or other thin strips of material * Lattice (music), an organized grid model of pitch ratios * Lattice (pastry), an orna ...

-shaped red

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

beads. The hairstyle is referred to as a "parrot's beak" hairstyle and was only allowed to be worn by the Iyoba and the major war chief. The eyes and two bands between them are inset with iron. These reflect the oral tale of how Idia came to be the Iyoba; the tale states that an oracle had told Idia to place medicine on two incisions above her eyes in order to prevent the Oba Ozolua from picking her for his wife. Oba Ozolua then went on to defeat the oracle's premonitions and Idia became the mother of Oba Esigie. Above each eyebrow are engraved four cicatrices. The sophisticated technique and design of the four heads suggest that they were made in the early sixteenth century, commissioned by Idia's son Oba Esigie, and created by the imperial guild of brass-casters that was founded by the previous Oba, Oba Ogolua. The heads were designed to honour her military achievements and ceremonial power. Afrikaabteilung in Ethnological Museum Berlin 29

Afrikaabteilung in Ethnological Museum Berlin 29

Original use

Queen Idia played an instrumental role in her son's successful military campaigns against neighbouring

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

and factions. After her death, Oba Esigie ordered dedicatory heads of the queen to be made, to be placed in front of

altars An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganism ...

or in the Queen Mother's palace. The heads were designed to honour her

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

achievements and ceremonial power. The British Museum head was presented to the museum by Sir William Ingram in 1897.

References

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Description

Original use

See also

References

Further reading