ƒ EDO AN EDO BRONZE PLATE KINGDOM OF BENIN, NIGERIA Length:... Lot 30

ƒ EDO AN EDO BRONZE PLATE KINGDOM OF BENIN, NIGERIA Length: 40.5 cm. (16 in.) US$33,000-54,000 PROVENANCE Frederick Wolf-Knize (1890-1949), Vienna and New York Collection Weltmuseum Wien, Vienna, Austria (loan) Peter A. Knize (1924-2010), United States, passed on by John J. family descent. Klejman (1906-1995), New York, acquired from the latter James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, acquired from the latter in 1957 EXHIBITION Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Primitive Art from Chicago Collections, 16 November 1960 - 2 January 1961 BIBLIOGRAPHY Art Institute of Chicago, Primitive Art from Chicago Collections, Chicago, 1960, No. 161 Dark, P., An illustrated catalogue of Benin art, Boston, 1982, p. 2.1.109, No. X4/67 (not ill.) The fishes which adorn the plates of the ancient Kingdom of Benin are a direct allusion to the link between Olokun, the divinity of the waters, and the Oba, King of Benin. These Beninese plates guaranteed the prosperity of the kingdom and probably once decorated an altar dedicated to Olokun installed in the royal palace. Representations of catfish or catfish are omnipresent in the art of Benin. In Nigeria live several kinds of catfish - synodontis - capable of breathing out of the water and being able to travel a certain distance in the open air by closing their gills. Hybrid" creatures, both terrestrial and aquatic, the catfish are the metaphorical identification of Man who moves from the terrestrial world to the supernatural world. These fish were also sacrificed in order to remove obstacles. A simlar plate decorated with a fish is kept in the collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde Wien (inv. no. 64.693) and has been dated to the 16th-17th centuries. To bid, please visit the "Sales Information" section.