Brass roosters are placed on ancestral altars commemorating the queen mothers of Benin. They stand for fowl and other animals that are sacrificed during rituals honoring royal ancestors. These explicitly male creatures acknowledge that the queen mother is different from other women and shares many powers and privileges with men. In depicting these birds, Benin brass casters indulge their love of dense overall patterns. Although stylized, these incised designs deftly suggest the rooster's showy plumage, scaly legs, and dimpled comb.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Rooster Figure
Date:18th century
Geography:Nigeria, Court of Benin
Culture:Edo peoples
Medium:Brass, iron
Dimensions:H. 17 3/4 × W. 8 × D. 16 1/4 in. (45.1 × 20.3 × 41.3 cm)
Classification:Metal-Sculpture
Credit Line:Bequest of Mary Stillman Harkness, 1950
Accession Number:50.145.47
[Charles Ratton, Paris, acquired by 1930]; Louis Carré, Paris, acquired by 1932; [Michael Knoedler & Co., New York, Paris, London, acquired by ca. 1936]; Edward S. and Mary Stillman Harkness, New York, 1936–1940; Mary Stillman Harkness, New York and Connecticut, 1940–(d.) 1950
Galerie Pigalle. "Exhibition Pigalle," January 1, 1930–December 31, 1930.
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. "L'art negre," January 1, 1930–December 31, 1930.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sculpture of Black Africa: Nigeria & Cameroon," June 23, 1971–March 19, 1972.
Musée du Quai Branly. "Charles Ratton," June 24, 2013–September 22, 2013.
von Luschan, Felix. Die Altertümer von Benin. Berlin, Leipiz: Vereinigung wissenschaftlicher Verleger, 1919.
Duchartre, Pierre Louis. "Poids et figurines nègres." Art et Décoration vol. 57 (May 1930), p. 147.
Exposition de bronzes et ivoires du royaume de Bénin, 15 juin-15 juillet 1932. Paris: Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro, Paris, 1932, no. 45.
M. Knoedler & Co. Bronzes and Ivories from the Old Kingdom of Benin. Paris: Dehon & Cie., 1935, no. 18.
Lewis, Perry J. "Edward and Mary Harkness." The Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art vol. 10 (October 1951), p. 80.
Segy, Ladislas. African Sculpture Speaks. New York: L. Hill, 1955, fig. 94.
Millot, Jacques. Arts Connus et Méconnus de l'Afrique Noire: Collection Paul Tishman. Paris: Musée de l'Homme, 1966.
Metall: Gewinnung und Verarbeitung in aussereuropäischen Kulturen. Basel: Museum für Völkerkunde und Schweizerisches Museum für Volkskunde Basel, 1966.
Dagen, Philippe, and Maureen Murphy. Charles Ratton: L'invention des arts primitifs. Paris: Skira Flammarion, 2013, p. 79, fig. 50.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
