Bronze Head of Queen Idia

Bronze Head of Queen Idia
The head, on display at the British Museum.
Material	"Bronze", actually Brass and Iron.
Size	height:41cm width:15.5cm depth:17.5cm
Weight	3.9kg
Created	Sixteenth century AD
Discovered	Benin City
Present location	British Museum
Registration	Af1897,1011.1
Culture	Benin Court Art
Description applies to only one of four, similar, works believed to depict the same individual.

The Bronze Head of Queen Idia is a commemorative bronze head from the medieval Kingdom of Benin in West Africa that probably represents Idia, mother of Oba Esigie, 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 in London,^[1] the World Museum in Liverpool,^[2] the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos,^[3] and the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.^[4]

Description

The bronze head was made using the lost wax casting technique in the early sixteenth century.^[1] It is a very realistic representation of a young woman from the Benin court, who wears a high pointed ukpe-okhue crown of lattice-shaped red coral 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.^[5]

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.^[5] 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.^[6] The heads were designed to honour her military achievements and ceremonial power.^[7]

The different head in Berlin

Original use

Queen Idia played an instrumental role in her son's successful military campaigns against neighbouring tribes and factions. After her death, Oba Esigie ordered dedicatory heads of the queen to be made, to be placed in front of altars or in the Queen Mother's palace. The heads were designed to honour her military achievements and ceremonial power.

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

See also

• Benin bronzes
• Benin ivory mask
• Bronze Head from Ife

References

1. "commemorative head | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
2. Accession number 27.11.99.8. Kingdon, Zachary (2019). Ethnographic collecting and African agency in early colonial West Africa : a study of trans-imperial cultural flows. New York. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-5013-3793-2. OCLC 1062395773.
3. Picture of Lagos head Archived 2 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
4. "Memorial head of a queen mother". Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017.
5. Africa, arts and cultures. John Mack, British Museum. New York. 2000. ISBN 0-19-521727-6. OCLC 48015137.
6. Africa, arts and cultures. John Mack, British Museum. New York. 2000. ISBN 0-19-521727-6. OCLC 48015137.
7. Africa, arts and cultures. John Mack, British Museum. New York. 2000. ISBN 0-19-521727-6. OCLC 48015137.

Further reading

• Mack, John (ed.) Africa, Arts and Cultures. London, 2005.
• Barley, Nigel. The Art of Benin. London: The British Museum Press, 2010.
• Ben-Amos, P. Girshick. The Art of Benin. London: The British Museum Press, 1995.