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Source Description
Materials used for ritual objects correspond with the status of their owner, or the person it was dedicated to. Men have cast brass roosters, while women have carved wooden hens like this. This egg-shaped bird is covered with patterns formed by parallel lines indicating the bird’s feathers, from fluffy tufts to sleek plumage. Realistically carved, it replicates an animal that would be sacrificed on a woman’s shrine. On an ancestral altar, it sat alongside other objects like rattle staffs. While Benin is patriarchal (men and their male sons lead), women are important; men cannot succeed spiritually or politically without them.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
147489
label
Hen
core
obj
dtoType
sculpture
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
147489
contentType
sculpture
title
Hen
description
Materials used for ritual objects correspond with the status of their owner, or the person it was dedicated to. Men have cast brass roosters, while women have carved wooden hens like this. This egg-shaped bird is covered with patterns formed by parallel lines indicating the bird’s feathers, from fluffy tufts to sleek plumage. Realistically carved, it replicates an animal that would be sacrificed on a woman’s shrine. On an ancestral altar, it sat alongside other objects like rattle staffs. While Benin is patriarchal (men and their male sons lead), women are important; men cannot succeed spiritually or politically without them.
date
1900s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79926648
genreSpecific
Sculpture
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 47.6 cm (18 3/4 in.)
cul
Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, member(s) of the Igbesanmwan (wood and ivory carvers) guild
accession
1973.221
Source extras
tec
wood
tombstone
Hen, 1900s. Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, member(s) of the Igbesanmwan (wood and ivory carvers) guild. Wood; overall: 47.6 cm (18 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1973.221
collection
African Art
formerAccessionNumbers
923.68
didYouKnow
The interlacing pattern on the base of this sculpture can be seen in Benin Kingdom works in materials from wood to ivory to metal.
citations
citation
"The Year in Review for 1968." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, </em>61, no. 2 (February 1974): 31-78.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 71, cat. 13; mentioned: p. 73, cat. 13
citation
Fagg, William. <em>African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection</em>. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, no. 150.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. 150
citation
Broudy, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Youngblood. <em>Icon and Symbol : The Cult of the Ancestor in African Art</em>. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Cranbrook Academy of Art/Museum, 1975
citation
Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. “Art from the Benin Kingdom.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 34-35.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 34-35.
citation
<em>Digital Benin, </em>Markk Museum Am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Kunste der Welt<em>, (</em>Last Updated: 2021-02-13)
page_number
ID 147489
creditline
Gift of Katherine C. White
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:33:48.975000
sourceId
147489
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
wood
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
dc8d33590f256c52